A Hedgehog's Legacy
by Supreme Ky
Summary: The world is a dark place, barren of people and hope for the future. What happens when one individual decides to stand up against it? (My try at a Sonic fanfic. Reuploaded, sorry about the first time!)
1. The Aftermath

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics, and what not. You have been warned. 

Past:

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

10 years later 

Sonic – 28

Amy – 26

Tails – 20

Knuckles – 28

Future 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

     "Blue bomber down! Blue bomber down!" A small purple hedgehog flew up in mid air while doing a double somersault, his cries for help virtually ignored. Jumping off a blue snowboard, he pretended he was jumping off a crashing helicopter.

     "Whoosh! KABOOM!" he cried as he landed on his quills.

     "GRAPES! What did I tell you about touching my equipment?!" A voice roared from the distance, which were soon followed by heavy footsteps.

     "Aw shoot! I'm dead meat if Uncle Tails catches me, but how can I juice on outta here without attracting attention to myself?!" the little hedgehog named Grapes said to himself as if the act would help him concentrate.

     "I swear, if I lose another piece of equipment to Grapes, I'm gonna spank him with a cattle prod!" The two-tailed sidekick of Sonic the Hedgehog thought to himself. 

     "Well, at least a yardstick." He amended his previous statement after thinking about Sonic. He finally reached his laboratory with some effort. The cane in his hand did nothing to help his speed but he could still fly with the best of them.

     Age had nothing to do with it. 

     Thanks to Robotnik, his right leg was roboticized a long time ago. It would have been worse if not for Sonic. He grimaced at the memory and pressed the entry code on a nearby control panel to open the security doors. It seemed no matter what Tails did or programmed, Grapes would find the necessary loopholes to do whatever the hell he wanted.

     "Grapes! Come out now!" he hollered. His gaze wandered over to his equipment, some which were either desecrated by his infamous tag, (either YAD or GTH) which was all thanks to Knuckles' influence… Or slightly bent, broken, tilted over, or just plain out broken which is was would usually happen when Grapes was in his laboratory or his room.

     "Come out now, don't make me look for you!" Again, Tails was given no response. "Fine, fine! Stay where you are. I'll just tell your mother about this!" he pretended to walk away, just waiting for the young hedgehog to give himself up but nothing happened. 

     "I'm sure she'll be very disappointed in you." Tails said over his shoulder as he leaned on his cane. There was still no response and he was starting to get agitated again. He really shouldn't lose his temper; his doctor said so, his blood pressure and all.

     "So disappointed, that you can just _kiss_ those chilidogs good-bye!" he shouted once more for good measure and walked out in a brisk pace, all a big show really. And then the telltale sign of a little stomach growling at the thought of the famous snack went off, revealing Grapes' position. Tails hovered a few feet into the air and swung his cane to his right, hitting the wall. Or at least it was supposed to, since it hit something solid first, knocking a young hedgehog to the floor as if he appeared out of nowhere.

     "Trying to use that little parlor trick on me again I see… hand it over…" Tails muttered dryly as his foot rapped against the wooden floor much like Grapes' father did at one point in his life. Grapes took out a small handheld device the size of a small rock.

     "Using my inventions to try and escape eh?" 

     "Uh---Heh,heh… Heya, Unc!" Grapes said half-heartedly. "So, how 'bout them Mobius Angels eh? Buncha bums, losing to the Red Squirrels like that—"

     Tails shot him a look and turned his back, walking away. Grapes gulped. Normally Tails would be yelling and ranting away like his life depended on it, but it was different this time. He quickly caught up to Tails. 

     "Please don't be mad! I… can't help it! You just got so much cool stuff in there! And it's so boring out here all by myself!" Grapes explained in a rush. Tails looked at Grapes solemnly. 

     "You have me, as well as your mother, so you're not alone. And as for my 'cool stuff', it shouldn't be messed around with unless I'm around!" Tails took a breath and smoothed out his ruffled fur. "Just like your father, always impatient. Easily bored too."

     Sensing a change in subject, Grapes quickly went for it. "Speaking of which, can you tell me about him? I'm eight now, I think I'm old enough to know more about him." Grapes said in a self-important tone. Tails smiled ruefully at him and motioned Grapes to walk with him as he spoke.

     "Honestly, I don't think you're ready, not even if you live to a hundred years old. But a little boy like you needs his superheroes. So why not your dad right?" Tails looked over to Grapes who nodded eagerly. 

     Chuckling, Tails took Grapes' hand and walked him over to another room. Instead of an actual private room with a bed and a wardrobe or a dresser, it was just a small room. To the left was a bookshelf, two of the five shelves filled with thick texts while the top three were filled with picture frames, each one holding a memory for Tails. In front of him was a desk, cluttered with papers and documents, many of which are already yellowed with age.

     "You probably never went in this room before, since I find that everything is always where I left it last." he smirked at Grapes. "I hope you're still not afraid of the dark…"

     "Huh? M-me? Never!" Although his knees knocking together like a motor told a different story. 

     Tails looked over to his right and flipped the lights on. Grapes closed his eyes first since his eyes had to adjust to the light but was soon amazed. "Whoa! How did you do that?"

     Tails laughed. "This thing here is called a lamp. Back then we had to turn the lights on ourselves instead of telling the computer to turn it on for us."

     Grapes looked at it with wonder but soon his curiosity took over and he pointed over to a picture frame that caught his eye. In it, was a hedgehog that looked remarkably like himself, except his quills were stuck out to the sides and back, while Grapes' were mostly going back while a few in the front were constantly covering his eyes and sides of his face, like his mother.

     "That's him, isn't it?" he said in an awed tone. "It has to be! Tell me all about him! How strong was he? How fast? Did he break the sound barrier like I did? Where is he now? Why won't mom talk about him?" Grapes asked at a rapid fire pace.

     ::Tails sweatdrops:: "Hey, one at a time!" For one, yes he is your dad, and for a time he was my father, brother, uncle, and grandfather all rolled into one. He knew everything and taught me what I had to know. If it weren't for him, a lot of things today would never be possible, like you for example."

     Catching the look in the child's eyes, he continued. "He kept everyone safe, he was a superhero, **the **superhero. We saved the world so many times; it was like a game after a while. How fast can we save the world this time? Can we do it with on arm hand tied behind our backs?" Tails laughed and he looked over to Grapes who was giggling also.

     "Keep in mind, strength isn't everything. That's why your father was so fast, that he just did his best and kept on going! To him, it never mattered. He didn't care much for anything else. Maybe chilidogs… And yes, he broke the sound barrier, he was the first to do it too." Tails placed the frame back on the shelf and walked out, closing the lights in the process. 

     "C'mon, it's time we get home to your mother. And don't think I won't punish you somehow. I'll think of something later."

     Grapes sighed at his being punished by his mother, but then looked at his Uncle with a confused face, his head slightly tilted. 

     "But you didn't tell me what happened to him! He got taken away by some bad guy right? And he's gonna bust out soon right? That's why you make so many inventions, you're gonna save my dad?" 

     Tails ignored the child's comments and walked steadily. "Something like that, but I'll tell you someday later, Grapes. Just not now... C'mon, let's hurry." His voice choked for a few seconds but he ignored it. He picked Grapes up and slowly hovered into the air and flew away with a straight face on, not daring to speak anymore for fear of letting Grapes know.

     That, and because he can't let the truth out that Sonic the Hedgehog, Grapes' father, is dead and long gone. and his body never found to this day.

     Amy Rose wiped her brow, admiring her handiwork. She wasn't the best cook on the face of the planet but she knew her way around the kitchen. Thus, made a happy family of two hedgehogs and a two-tailed fox. 

     Tails must have been hung around Sonic too much; he's starting to eat like a hog. Amy thought to herself. Before she could do anything else, the doorbell rang once. Then it rang ten more times in rapid succession and was soon followed by someone yelling at the front door, a meek 'sorry', and then finally, ten more rings but at a slower pace...

     Amy sighed to herself. She walked to her door and opened it to find herself thrown into a spin by Grapes running to the dinner table. Tails caught her in time and steadied her almost immediately. "Sorry, I tried my best to teach the kid some manners. He's just like his dad." He said with a grin.

     ::CHOMP! CHOMP! GULP!:: ::CHOMP! CHOMP! GULP!:: ::CHOMP! CHOMP! GULP!:: "Hey, this need more chili mom!"

      "No, really? You think?" Amy asked sarcastically. "I'm surprised he could actually taste, with the way he eats." The two walked into the dining room to find young Grapes eating his chilidogs with extra vigor than usual. Next to him was a bowl of chili for the chilidogs.

     "Might as well get started before we miss out like last time!" Amy said cheerfully, and they dug in while Grapes continued on anyways, uninterrupted by the earlier statement.

     It was hours after dinner and the sun had finally set. Like many nights past, it was beautiful, with all the stars out shining and watching over the planet's inhabitants as they sleep peacefully in their beds. To Tails, it was danger all around. The enemy has always struck at night and this night may not be an exception. 

     It was how _he_ operated, how he managed to destroy the one hero in the world that would dare oppose his rule.

     Lost in his thoughts, he never failed to notice Amy quietly walking down the stairs. "About time he's asleep. It's like he's hooked up to a chaos emerald or something!" he said with a quiet laugh. Amy smiled but then noticed Tails had stopped laughing and pain crossed his features. She became extremely tense and ran over to Tails.

     "Are you alright? What's wrong?"

     "Your cooking perhaps?" Tails asked as he started to straighten out but the look of pain was still etched in his features as well as his voice.

     Amy smashed him into the floor with her hammer. "Serves you right! How dare you, after all these years--!" Amy leaned impatiently against her mallet, supporting her like a third leg; waiting for Tails to stand back up again so she could take another hit off him.

     "I was just playing around! And not to worry, it's just this hunk of junk…" he said as he knocked on his metal leg. "It's really starting to act up now more than ever."

     Amy gasped in horror. "What's wrong? Can it be fixed?"

     Tails only shrugged. "I've seen this before. You remember Bunnie Rabbot? Yea, I thought so. Well, she was roboticized but was saved at the last minute by Sonic, like I was. She had this problem, where her mechanical parts were starting to decompose, if you will, and I'm starting to experience that same problem. All because we were partially roboticized…"

     "Normally, it could be fixed, upgraded. But I don't have the equipment that Mr. Nate Morgan had, or Rotor. My skills in mechanics aren't even close to theirs, and my medical standpoint is even worse. My time isn't long, Amy. If it doesn't kill me, it'll be amputated." Tails said with a sigh.

     "There's gotta be a way, we just have to look for it right?" Amy asked.

     "No worries, I'll be fine. I've been through worse." Tails said with false bravado. Amy only sat down on a chair, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

     "It only seems like yesterday, you were Sonic's best man at our wedding! And now you're worried about death!?" Amy didn't dare shout but she didn't held back either. "You're not even thirty and death is just around the corner waiting for you!"

     Tails walked over to her and put a soothing hand over her shoulder. "Truth be told, I'm 29. Nice estimate by the way, but don't worry about it, I'm not!" Amy looked up at him with a disbelieving look.

     Tails sighed. "If you want another reason why I'm not too worried about dying so soon, is that at least I'll die young! You think I want to wither into a prune? I'm too pretty to die!" he said half jokingly. Amy was still depressed, from the way she looked. 

     "This isn't about me is it?"

     "Huh?"

     "You're worried about me, but you're still thinking about Sonic… You're still not over his death are you?" Tails asked sadly. 

     Amy didn't reply, they both knew the answer. "What happened to you and Sonic… I can't help thinking about it. He saved my life so many times, and he died! Because of me! How am I going to tell Grapes that his own mother is the cause of him being fatherless? That it was me that killed him!"

     "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be like this either! His death and your roboticized leg… it's all my fault. You and Sonic would be alive and happy and having fun, enjoying life to the fullest. The world would still be safe…" 

     The veritable dam has just been demolished, leaving a broken Amy for Tails to take care of. For him, it seemed normal since Grapes always tells him how his mother cries every night since he can first remember. However seeing it in person has proved that much more disturbing. He's always seen her put on a happy face for everyone, but sometimes even that's not enough. 

     "He loved you, he died for you! If it weren't for you, your little boy wouldn't be here and Sonic would be some lone hermit living on some remote island!" Tails barked out. "Do you know how much of a difference you made in his life?!"

     "If it weren't for me, maybe he'd be alive… I didn't do anything…" Amy half muttered.

     "Tell that to Grapes and we'll see if you're right." Tails said with his back turned towards the pink hedgehog. He slowly watched the night sky and the stars that moved across the dark stretch. Even though he kept his composure but he still felt like liquefied pudding, especially with what's been happening of late.

     "There's a reason why I couldn't come the last few months. The resistance, they really need me now, more than ever." Tails said shakily.

     "I understand, you're their best scientist, I would never think otherwise!" Amy said, her troubles slightly leaving her. Tails only smiled patiently. He offered his hand and they slowly walked outside Amy's hut. Until they got to a small clearing about twenty feet away, then did Tails finally stop.

     "I'm the best scientist they got, and now I'm the best chance they got to end this war with The Master." Tails choked out that name, the murderer that sent the entire world from hell into something far worse than the likes of Enerjak or Robotnik could ever imagine or devise. The very same person who killed Sonic in one blow, the one that'll die by Tails' hands if he had anything to say about it.

     "What? How? The Master is too powerful for the entire resistance! Even after the alliance with the Dark Legion, The Brotherhood of Guardians, and the Acorn Monarchy, we're still shorthanded!"

     Tails clenched his fist angrily as he looked to the stars for guidance. "You'd think that. So would he, to believe that he's invincible because he has fourteen emeralds in his hands. Well it won't mean anything anymore! Not now, not EVER!" Tails yelled out. He screamed his rage out into the night, pouring his heart out. The very ground began to tremble…

     Oh my god, the ground's starting to move! Amy thought. She fell backwards, and then the giant flash of light that seemingly came out of nowhere, blinded her… 

     Seconds later, she finally understood what had happened. She focused her eyes and she looked for Tails. Instead, there was another two-tailed fox that stood in his place. His fur was a dark, coarse brown, he was taller, and he glowed with energy. His tails were whipping in the air behind him, filled with energy, and the tips of his hair on his head stood on end, electrified by the powerhouse that is now Turbo-Tails.

     "Tails…" Amy breathed out. Without the chaos emeralds, it should have been impossible. But here stood Tails in his super form, all charged up and ready for action, just like in the old days.

     "Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to show you, that's all." Tails said. He quickly powered down, his fur became lighter and his frame that was bulked up and toned had reverted back to its slim and lean form. His hair was back to its usual style and the energy dissipated.

     Amy quickly got back up to her feet and ran at Tails. She quickly engulfed him in a hug. "I just wanted to surprise you." Tails said sheepishly.

     "You sure did! Look at you!" Amy said in wonder. "You're really gonna do it this time then aren't you? Finishing this war once and for all? Would we finally stop living in fear?" she asked. The hope in her voice was unmistakable and Tails didn't have the heart to tell her that it things might get worse before it gets better.

     "No. I'm not strong enough. I will be, given enough time, but that's something none of us have left. It's now or never." Tails said gravely. 

     "But how?! You just said you're not strong enough!" Amy yelled.

     "Simple. Either I kill, or be killed. No two ways about it. But just so you know, if I go, I won't be going alone. I'm going to take out The Master's entire fortress, with this." He pointed at his chest 

     "In order to make a long story short… I've created a machine that would harness the powers of the fake emeralds I've created so long ago, to duplicate the effects of the real emeralds and compress all that power into my body. Thus, giving me the permanent ability to change into my super form, by will or extreme emotion. Obviously it wasn't easy, and I won't bother you with the technicalities."

     "The drawback… The power is unstable, more so than the real emeralds. The way I see it, the gold rings were meant as a stabilizer for the emeralds, and since I'm operating on only an emeralds' power supply, it's a lot more than just unstable. If given the proper fuel, the energy could backfire on me and kill me. If I use it for long and not rest in between, or if my body isn't adapting to it properly, it could kill me." 

     "Anyways, if I can't get rid of that bastard and his minions with this upgrade, I'll do the next best thing, I'll self-destruct... And to seal the deal, I'll be carrying two things on me. A zone generator to take us into another zone so the damage to the world would be non-existent, and a powerful explosives pack I've devised… There's enough power in that little thing to take out half the planet, at least when combined with the energies that I'll be expending…"

     "You can't do this!" Amy yelled. She backed away from Tails and looked at him. "You can't do this, not to me, not to Grapes! He needs a father in his life, you can't kill yourself!" 

     Tails smiled sadly. He walked over to her and with one hand she smoothed out her hair. "He needs a mother even more. I came to say good-bye…" With that, Tails finally picked up the courage to do what he wanted all these years… He slowly pulled her closer to him and placed a soft kiss on Amy's lips. They stood there for a while, under the pale moonlight.

     "Sonic, he was a lucky son of a hedgehog. But I could never do that to him. Now then, not now." Tails murmured softly in her ear. 

     "Then—"

     "Why?" Tails interrupted. Amy nodded slowly. "Because this is pretty much my last night on this world, so I might as well enjoy it. Maybe you'll give me the courage to do this, and maybe I'll give you the courage to live on." He leaned in once more and kissed Amy again, but with the passion that burned both their souls to the core, although Amy enjoyed every second of it, her heart still belonged to Sonic no matter what.

     "Don't tell Grapes, make up a story if you have to. And one other thing… please take him to my workshop when you think he's old enough to know the truth about everything... His father, my death, my discovery, and my gift… 

     "There, there I'll give him the greatest gift and the greatest curse he will ever know. It's a heavy price to be a hero, especially for Grapes, but the world may need one, one day. Good-bye… Amy Rose…" Tails smiled one last time as he powered up to his maximum, becoming Turbo-Tails once more. 

     He reverted back to his cold, stony, expression and took to the air in a blazing streak of light, and quite possibly to never to be seen again. That night, Amy cried that much harder. Now, Grapes was the only person left in her life that she still loved dearly and still could be counted among the living...

10 years later…

     "I'll kill you! I'll kill every… last… one of you!" The sound of metal against metal rang throughout the forest. Explosions and a single person's war cry could be heard. Screams of terror pervaded the area, the destruction of machinery and mechanical parts becoming just another sound in the great forest. The youth that screamed the war cry finally dropped down from the skies, where he was just battling a horde of flying robots in the shape of giant pterodactyls. 

     Walking down the path of the great forest, the young hero had heard the troubled cries of an elderly echinda couple and a young child, four at most, probably their grandchild. He did what came naturally and ran with all the power he could muster, stopping one of the the mechanical beasts from killing them in one blow, managing to stop the giant claws that were centimeters away from the family. 

     Soon enough, a flock of them appeared, and the small family thought it was over… Until the mysterious youth, disappeared in a blinding flash of light. Then and there stood another mysterious stranger, except he was gold in color instead of the soft lavender that covered his fur and his green eyes became blood red. His quills stood straight on end and he radiated power, enough to make the echidnas wary of the stranger just as much as the strange beasts. 

     He turned to face the family. The elderly gentleman walked over to the strange youth and thanked him for his services, although he was slightly cautious of his intentions. His skills showed him as one who had trained to fight, to kill, fueled only by vengeance and revenge. 

     When upon asking his name, the family trembled as his soft voice that seemed to shake the very mountains that surround them… floated in the air like a butterfly with a poisonous sting…

     "I am Grapes… The Hedgehog…"

     Without a moment's delay, he disappeared, leaving a trail of dust leading into the horizon.

A/N: Thanks to all who took the time to take a look at this! It's a bit confusing maybe, weird, but I promise at least an explanation behind Grapes! I have this thing mostly planned out. When I get enough reviews (hint, hint!), I'll put out chapter two.


	2. The Prodigal Son

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics. You have been warned.

Past:

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years later) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after… 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles - 47

     "Home." Grapes whispered to himself as he arrived in front of a small house. It wasn't much to look at but it had the comforts of home and provided shelter from the elements. He swiftly wiped his boots on the rug when he entered and hung up his jacket and slung his sword on a nearby coat rack.

     "You should take better care of that thing." A voice called over from the kitchen, about a few feet away from Grapes. "The Sword of Acorns is no toy."

     Grapes grinned at the remark. Normally it was the same routine, he'd arrived home, carelessly throw his sword onto the coat rack and Knuckles, his teacher/mentor, would reprimand him for it.

     "Good afternoon to you too. So what's the latest on the front lines?" Grapes asked as he walked into the kitchen. Knuckles was already sitting on a stool, quietly tinkering with a small arm cannon. Undoubtedly it was taken away from some robot. His gloves were off, placed nearby. His hands were exposed, with the natural claws cut off.

     "Not good, not good at all... The Acorn resistance is all but wiped out, with only a few survivors scattered somewhere out there. At least I hope so. They've been discovered somehow and the location of their HQ was compromised, but luckily the freedom fighters erased all links and communications to other major bases and affiliations. The Brotherhood and The Legionnaires are safe. For now, at least." Knuckles finally looked up from his work to Grapes.

     "I've got their Distress signal a few hours ago. Queen Sally Acorn and her daughter Princess Samantha, they were out as the first line of defense… They didn't make it..."

     Grapes only listened intently, trying to be impassive. He never really knew the Queen on a personal level but he had been intimate with Samantha, something only her mother knew about. That bastard… I'll kill him. The heavens will damn you for this, Mogul… he thought to himself.

     "It seems that the sword is yours now, permanently. Master Mogul… he isn't going to stop 'til we're dead. We better move fast. With our backup regime taken out, we're short on fire and man power, much less on intelligence and recon personnel." Knuckles continued on. "At this rate, we'll have to abandon ship."

     "You mean surrender?" Grapes replied in shock. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

     Knuckles looked him straight in the eye before continuing working on the small arm cannon once more. 

     "Maybe. But I figure we have three options… One, we surrender… which might not be such a great idea. He won't spare us and incorporate us into his empire; we're too much of a threat. Two, we could create a dimensional transporter and get the hell out of here and into some unknown and uncharted dimension while the going's still good… or three…" 

     This time, Knuckles looked up again from his new toy and grinned at Grapes. 

     "We could go back in time…"

     Grapes only crossed his arms as he glared back at Knuckles.

     "What? Not a good enough plan for you?"

     "…We're talking about time travel here! What the hell are we supposed to do if this crazy plan actually works?"

     Knuckles stroked his chin as he thought. "Hard to say. We need to stop this entire war from happening, without causing too much problems to the time space continuum and such."

     "We need to get rid of Mogul. After that, it's smooth sailing from here on in!" Grapes said as he struck his fist into his palm. "Just give me a few more months! I'm almost strong enough to take on Mogul! I've faced off with him a few times already."

     "Just barely coming out of it alive! You're lucky your super form is able to take the punishment but eventually it won't be enough to hold against the power of fourteen emeralds! You'll need a few more decades but even after that it might not be enough. And may I remind you, we don't have that much time." Knuckles replied. He then sighed and rolled his eyes. "Listen, why don't you go visit your mother okay? I still got lots to do right now. All this talking isn't getting any of us anywhere."

     Grapes shrugged. "Fine. But believe what you want, but I could beat Mogul, and when I do, I'll make sure you're there to see it." Grapes slipped on his jacket and when he reached for his sword, a thought occurred to him. 

     "You still up for a quick sparring session? I want to try out a few moves that might just put me over the top when I face up against one of Mogul's generals." He said as he went to the living room to get his things.

     "No problem, but only if you wanna be beaten by the best. I don't want to hear you whine about how much it hurts later on." Came the casual reply.

     "Whatever you say, old man." With that sentiment said, he was out the door.

     "Grapes don't touch that! I don't want you to spoil your appetite!" Amy chastised as she went to slap Grapes' hand for trying to sneak a piece of meat into his mouth. It proved pretty much futile, but Grapes stopped anyways.

     "Sorry, I'm just really hungry."

     Amy nodded. "Yes, I know. Your father was very much the same way."

     Grapes shifted his feet uncomfortably, afraid that talking about his father might upset his mother. "Yeah, trying to save the world does that to you. But anyways, how's everything lately?"

     Amy didn't turn around but kept right on cooking. "Well, everything is good as it could get. Why do you ask?"

     "Well, I know I haven't been around as much since I have to help out with the cause and all, and my training with Knuckles… And I haven't talked to you for some time too. I was just wondering if there's anything I could do... to help out, you know?" Grapes shifted again, slightly nervous.

     "Well it's quite understandable. Your father always said, 'A Hedgehog's gotta do, what a Hedgehog's gotta do.' This isn't any different son." Amy said with a smile. 

     Grapes only nodded. 

     "How is Knuckles by the way? I haven't seen him in a while, why don't you invite him over to dinner?" Amy asked while placing plates along the table.

     Grapes shrugged. "He's always busy and stuff, he doesn't have the time I guess."

     "Nonsense." Amy replied. "He should have time for a good home cooked meal. Go and ask him to have supper with us." She said with authority. In Grapes' experience, to go 'ask' usually means to go and 'demand'… or else face the wrath of his mother.

     Grapes quickly rushed out to the backyard and powered up to his super form. His quills became a pale golden color and stood straight up, extremely rigid. Within a minute, he reappeared back at the house back, and back to his usual color, with an irate echidna in his hand. When Grapes had let go, Knuckles dropped the arm cannon he had been working on and rubbed his sore wrist while mumbling incoherently. 

     "What a surprise, you made it!" Amy yelled out her kitchen window, her voice filled with satisfaction. 

     "I'm sure it was…" Knuckles replied with a roll of his eyes while picking up same arm cannon he was working on earlier, from the ground. They entered the house from the backdoor, which led to the kitchen. He gave the arm to Grapes who just took it into the living room

     "Well, never let it be said Amy Rose has even been refused anything. I was due for a dinner break soon!" he said amiably as he sat down while tying a napkin around his neck.

     About an hour later, Knuckles and Amy had already finished up eating while Grapes was reading a book in the living room while listening to his Walkman. The older two chose to sit in the kitchen and chat over tea. 

     "You'll be glad to see how your son has turned out. Just like his father." Knuckles said quietly. He observed the young hedgehog reading 'War and Peace'. "Well, he has your patience and hair, that's for sure."

     "Family pictures would be hell if he had quills like his father." Amy said with a small smile. "As for patience, I'm not so sure at times."

     Knuckles cleared his throat. "All idle chit chat aside… I've been meaning to talk to you about something." He took a deep breath and continued. 

     "Mogul is getting closer to eliminating us, and he's getting closer to finding you. In fact, our informants from the Acorn resistance told us months ago that Mogul is spearheading a search party for you. It hasn't been that bad otherwise I would've informed you way earlier than this, but after the massacre on the Queen's front lines, I can't take any more chances."

     Amy flinched. "What does he want with me?" she asked.

     "It's what he can do with you. With you as his hostage, there's no telling what's gonna happen with Grapes and the rest of this war. We don't need him to lose his head over this. He's the best we got and we can't afford having him fighting recklessly all because Mogul has you as a hostage!" Knuckles whispered harshly. He quickly looked over his shoulder to see Grapes still reading and bobbing his head to the music that only he could hear.

     Amy only took their cups to the sink. "I know you mean well, but I wish you'd stop speaking about Grapes like that!"

     "What are you babbling about?" Knuckles asked indignantly.

     "I mean, stop speaking about Grapes as if were nothing more than a living weapon! He's your godson! You should be worried about him and not his fighting performance!"

     Knuckles laughed, but it was bitter although it didn't sound mocking or derogatory. 

     "In another lifetime, I'd wholeheartedly agree. But times change. Making sure he lives through the next battle is all that I'm concerned about. That's how I worry, if what I taught him is enough. Does he know guerilla tactics? Would he make a mistake when waging a guerilla war? Would he know how to survive in the wild? What should he do if he's too injured to make it back home? Will he even make it back home? …Don't ever say, or imply that I don't care because, this is how I worry Amy, and this is how I take care of my godson."

     Amy looked to Knuckles and was shamefaced. She has always knew it had to be hard for the likes of husband, Tails, Knuckles… always having to worry about others and their own survival. "Oh Knuckles, I'm so sorry. That's not what I meant, please believe me..."

     Knuckles nodded and waved his hand to dismiss the topic. "I'd like you to go into hiding with my men back at Haven. The Brotherhood will make sure you're well guarded."

     "I don't need that much protection. I'm sure they have more important things to worry about." She said as she sat back down.

     Knuckles shook his head. "Afraid not. You are one of our top priorities, at least until this whole mess, or the war itself, is solved or blown over. Until then, you're to be guarded. It's best if we do this as soon as possible."

     "I guess you got most of the details taken care of then." Amy stated. Another nod from Knuckles… "Okay then, just tell me when."

     "No problem. I'll let you know when everything is arranged, we'll have to smuggle you out secretly and without a hitch. Well, it's been great having dinner here, makes me wish I ate here more often but duty calls." He got up and walked over to the living room.

     Grapes felt someone else in the room and looked up, to see Knuckles taking the robotic arm cannon and his screwdriver that was left on the sofa. "Going already?" he asked as he took his headphones off.

     Knuckles nodded. "I guess our spar's postponed. I still got things to finish up then I'll probably visit Queen Acorn's palace, if it's still there..." he mumbled out. His gaze wandered to the floor and was about to leave when Grapes stopped him.

     "Lemme go with you! It might not be safe to go by yourself."

     "Grapes!"

     "Mom, it's better this way. Remember all the times you told Knuckles to go hunting with me when I wanted to go alone? Same thing."

     Amy sighed. "Fine, but you better come back in one piece, ya hear!?" She screamed that last part since Grapes had already taken off, dragging Knuckles by the wrist.

     "I wish you wouldn't do that!" Knuckles yelled as his rubbed his sore wrist again. Grapes only chuckled sheepishly. "I mean really! It's not like I can't fly!" 

     They both have arrived a mile or so outside the location of the Palace. Standing in a clearing, they were vulnerable but it seemed the area had been vacated a long time ago. 

     "Sorry, but you fly too slow! Super form or no…"

     Knuckles only ignored the youth and reached out for the arm cannon he had dropped earlier. He gingerly checked it for damages and when he was finally through, he placed it on his forearm, and pressed a button. Almost immediately, it started to wrap around Knuckles' arm.

     "Whoa! What the hell is that?" Grapes asked in awe.

     "I've been working on this. We usually have to fight those rust buckets that carry these babies around so I figured, why not arm every civilian and soldier with the same kinda weapons and armor? They're dangerous all right, but this time it'll work in our favor." Knuckles ran his fingers over the smooth metal. Silver with a black finish, it covered his entire forearm including his hand. And not to Grape's amusement, there were prosthetic claws to replace his old ones. And they were by far thicker, sharper, and far deadlier than his old ones.

     "Well, let's get going. Last thing we need is to get caught unaware." They began to walk towards where Palace Acorn used to be. Grapes remembered visiting here for the very first time, how it was built as a sanctuary for all who were enemies of Master Mogul. He remembered how everyone lived, as a tight knit community where everyone helps out another. He remembered how nice everyone was even though a war between good and evil stood outside their very doorsteps. And he remembered the first time he had met the Queen and the Princess Samantha Acorn.

     He looked around for anything that could have held any more good memories, but all he saw was death and destruction. Buildings were torn down, rubble strewn about everywhere, and nothing living or dead was found. 

     "No bodies. I didn't think Mogul takes prisoners…" Grapes muttered to himself as he kicked a rock across the still burning rubble.

     "He doesn't. He doesn't even leave anything that would have point to signs of life. You've faced The Master a few times on the battlefield Grapes, but you've never seen him outside of battle, when it's you and me, against him and his army. When it comes to something like this, he's a murderer, plain and simple." Knuckles then noticed something and bent down on one knee to examine the ground.

     "What?" Grapes asked. He walked over to Knuckles and tried to catch a glimpse of what he was looking at.

     "Interesting…" he said at last. He picked something up, and opened up his gloved hand to show Grapes what he had found. It was a slightly melted silver ring. "Normally Mogul doesn't leave any traces of life left, especially not some petty jewelry. I almost didn't see it, so my guess is, it was hidden for a reason, perhaps by the owner?."

     "I recognize that… I gave that to Samantha a few months back…" Grapes said quietly.

     "I'm sorry." He passed the ring along to Grapes who just looked at it for a moment and shoved it into his jacket pocket without another word. He continued walking along side Knuckles.

     "I don't think we'll find much here. I was hoping to find the Queen and the Princess, at the very least a few survivors." Knuckles said quietly. Grapes placed a comforting hand on Knuckles' shoulder. 

     "I can't even bury their bodies."

     Grapes only stood next to him in silence. Knuckles breathed out, and began to speak again…

     "Once upon a time—"

     "Is this really a time for fairy tales?" Grapes interrupted.

     "Quiet…"

     Grapes only stayed silent next to his mentor.

     "I met the queen, when she and her father visited the floating island so many decades ago, and after that we've been friends and a bit more at times. Years passed and I helped her whenever she needed my help, and when I needed hers. I've been at her side almost as much as your father was. Soon, a new threat came about and she asked for my help as well from my father and forefathers. They refused, and I sided with them."

     "What? Why?" Grapes asked in shock.

     "I would've… We **all** would've gladly given our lives for hers... But there was only one little complication… Would she and the rest of her people be willing to risk lives, to go to any means necessary, to think and act like the enemy, to win?"

     "I see." Grapes understood the values the Queen and Samantha held for life and war. To both mother and daughter, the methods the Guardians would and most likely use would violate their own code of honor.

     "Now look around you. If I hadn't refused her help, none of this would've happened! Because of my own stubbornness, and my believing that the past guardians knew what they were doing… led to all of _this_!" Knuckles screamed into the night air as he made a sweeping gesture with his arm. He turned to Grapes, a maniacal glint in his eyes, his voice was barely controlled, but he was still calm.

     "If I had helped her, the threat of Robotnik would have been gone, and we could have taken his technology and use it against the war with Mogul! We probably would have finished him before a war could start, but because I didn't help her, and didn't help her to understand that war means death, Mogul had time to plan! When Robotnik was keeping her busy, Mogul took time to mobilize his generals and his army!"

     He pointed to where the palace was, now only a burning foundation surrounded by rubble.

     "Now look at this. Robotnik imprisoned and his resources taken over by Mogul. Another war to fight against a near invincible enemy. More death. More killing. Not one body to bury and another glorious loss, one more loss of life to add to the scoreboard."

     Grapes only stood silent throughout his tirade and he didn't know what to say to most of it until now.

     "Don't think of their lives as the score, this isn't a game Knux." Grapes said coldly.

     "But I have to Grapes. I have to, because that's the way of war. We need—"

     "**You,** need to understand the value of life. I thought you of all people would understand that by now. I knew your father raised you for a while, and I know how your father thinks, you did train me for a while, and you taught me all that he had taught you… I thought the loss of my father and many others would wake you up, but I guess it made you worse." Grapes spat out.

     "You don't understand Grapes--!"

     Grapes only turned away with his back to Knuckles. "I want to help you, Knux. Just because you feel that way and you want to die, doesn't mean I'm gonna let you take everyone else with you. Don't you get it? Once you go down that road, everyone else will follow. That's how important you are to everyone. Without you, there is no hope. And the people will lose faith in what they believed in, and then where will we be?" 

     "Don't try to lie to me about it either. I knew this hit you hard along with everything else. My dad's death affected you, that much my mom told me. Tails giving his life to destroy Mogul, that hurt you, maybe even killed whatever decency you have left, whatever respect for life you have left. Face it, you're immune to death, but not to guilt, and now you want die for the cause, to make it all go away!"

     Knuckles was already on his knees, gripping onto the blood soaked earth. Grapes turned around and continued.

     "You thought I couldn't see it? That I wouldn't notice when you mentioned time travel?" Grapes ask sardonically.  

     "If you can't die, what's the next best thing to do? Erase yourself from existence. Destroy the menace, and then save the future. We'd all be changed, different, for the better or for the worse but even you'd take that chance rather than the guilt and the pain. That was your plan, wasn't it…? …WASN'T IT?!"

     Knuckles tried to speak but nothing came out.

     "A wise echidna told me once… Life is joy and it's also sorrow. It takes more guts to live than to fight hundred Moguls in battle."

     "Sally…" It was the only word that could have been heard from Knuckles' mouth. It was almost as if that word contained all he had to say, to respond to Grapes' speech. To Grapes, it seemed more like an excuse. Grapes only curled his lip in disgust and walked away. 

A/N: To AoStH Unlimited, don't worry, I'll have Grape's name explained soon! (Chapter four) And once again, I thank those that took time to read my fanfic. Oh, and normally I would wait longer to post up a chapter… Three weeks, tops. But it seems that my fanfic is being piled up on top with other works. Maybe it's peer pressure? I don't know. Don't let me down people! Please read and review!


	3. The Loss

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past:

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years later) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after… 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles - 47

     Grapes kept walking and never looked back. He had done this before and this time it wasn't any different… except he was choosing to walk away from his still alive, and partially depressed mentor, instead of a dead body or memory.

     Suddenly a loud buzzing disrupted the peaceful night and alerted both Knuckles and Grapes. 

     "Wasps!" Grapes murmured with his eyes slightly narrowed. He quickly dashed back to Knuckles, only to find his teacher engaging the enemy and barely holding them back. No matter how many he had shot they kept swarming at him. Grapes did a quick somersault in the air and collided with one that was right behind Knuckles. Using his father's own homing attack, he quickly wiped out several of them that stood in front of Knuckles.  

     Shaped like centipedes, they were equipped with wings that enabled them to glide on wind currents. The actual body is actually made up of round metallic spheres that connected to each other, with long skeletal legs that hung from opposite ends. Small jets were installed on each sphere to enable flight capabilities. Armed with four limited heat seeking missiles, sharp incisors, and incredible speed and agility for a machine, they were extremely formidable although fragile if a direct hit is landed.

     "Go Hyper already, Knux!" Grapes shouted. As he said this, he had already powered up to his ultimate form and began fighting off the army of insects, far outmatching their speed. In the seconds he had arrived and powered up, dozens of the wasps were on the floor. "I'll hold them off!" he said with a snarl as he let loose a barrage of punches and kicks.

     Knuckles nodded and let loose his own power. The power to reach his super form wasn't a gift from Miles Prower, as it was actually a gift from his own father, Locke. Genetically engineered and bathed in the power of a chaos emerald, he was a walking chaos emerald himself. It was only a matter of time before he taught himself this technique of harnessing the power of the emeralds by itself without any golden rings as a stabilizer. The result was the same, but the power was far more potent compared to Tails' method of inducing the super form.

     The two were more than a match for the insects. Knuckles and Grapes had only need to dodge and land a hard punch, or in Grapes' case a powerful slash, into the machines. After a while, those dozens that were left after began to fly deeper into the forest to escape. Soon the buzzing became more and more faint in the forest as they went further inland.

     "Should we leave them alone?" Grapes asked as he faced his pale red companion.

     "Let's finish them off quickly. They might be more trouble to us if we don't. " Knuckles ran at the direction while Grapes took the option to fly alongside Knuckles.

     Knuckles began to run along the trail the wasps took, pushing his senses in order to find the elusive machines. Grapes followed close by, flying low where the branches were. Although they had hit him dead on, he was unaffected due to his super form. He too pushed his heightened senses as far as it could go, as he rushed alongside Knuckles. Suddenly, the two reacted as if something had stung them… 

     "Did you just feel that? I think we found our missing bugs…" Grapes muttered, as he looked west. Knuckles however was looking at the opposite direction.

     "I feel it alright, but it's coming from the east." He said quietly.

      Grapes lifted an eyebrow in surprise. "A trap…" he muttered.

     "No, duh! I'll follow the trail east and you get the other trail. If anything happens that you can't handle, flare your power to your max and I'll get there A.S.A.P. Just keep moving while you're doing that, got it?" Knuckles had already started running at top speed east.

     "Take care of yourself, old man." Grapes said as he rose up higher into the air and began to fly west.

     "Here... This has to be it. Strange, the trail ends… here." Knuckles muttered to himself. He looked around him and all he saw were trees, barely any clearings. He looked around for any sign that'd show him what had happened to the wasps.

     Knuckles turned around immediately when he heard something drop to the floor. The object rolled towards him and it stopped right in front of him. It was a head of a wasp! The incisors were all but ripped off and it's head torn from the rest of its body, the wires still sparkling with energy.

     "You're right, the trail does end here old friend." A voice came from the distance. It was clearly mechanized, but it had a tint of sarcasm in it. For Knuckles it was quite strange since he had never met a machine with a personality.

     "Show yourself bub. I don't have time for games!" Knuckles called out as he readied himself for an eventual onslaught. 

     Slowly footsteps could be heard. Steady, but ever so slowly it made its way towards Knuckles. "When the hero falls, no one is there to save him. Because… when he always risks his life for others, he never bothers to think for one moment… not even to himself…"

     The mysterious figure stepped out from the shadows and into the open moonlight.

     "'…Who will be there to catch me, when I fall?'"

     Knuckles couldn't speak, nor utter a syllable. What he saw made him sick to his stomach. He unconsciously stepped back, unsure, and most importantly, afraid. His breath was ragged and he could barely utter this monstrosity's name.

     The thing nodded. "Yes, I'm back, and better than ever…"

     "Sonic…" Knuckles uttered out. He wasn't sure to be happy or be wary. But that was the last thing on his mind as Mecha Sonic raised both his arm cannons in the air. He felt the laser blasts shoot through his midsection, and in that instant, he knew it was all over. He fell onto his knees; the surprise still evident on his face as he looked down at the twin sized holes in his abdomen. He fell to his side and had long dropped out of his super form.

     From the corner of his eye, he could see the roboticized version of his best friend Sonic, walking towards him. "...H-h-how…?"

     "Amazing what technology could do nowadays, isn't it?" he asked. He knelt down and lowered his right arm cannon and pointed it straight at his forehead. "Thanks again for raising my son in the way of war. Perhaps he could be of use to Mogul, when fully roboticized of course." 

     All Knuckles could do was feel the hum of the energy being gathered into the barrel of the cannon. All he could think of was Grapes, and all those he had let down, especially those in the past. All he could pray for was someone to hear his cries for help. All he could see in the next two seconds was the face of death itself as his world was plunged into darkness.

     Grapes was flying at incredible speeds, still using his senses to guide him and to home in on the renegade insects. But soon he found it was all for nothing. He felt energy signatures that the machines generated were being decreased by the seconds and he hurried to the location as fast as he could go. 

     By the time he was a mile away, the signal was too weak to even find let alone follow. By the time he reached the end of the chase, the insects were all destroyed. The metallic bodies littered the ground everywhere around him.

     "What the hell is this?" Grapes asked to himself.

     A slow, sinister laugh was his response. He looked around and saw a figure standing along the shadows. From what he could make out, it seemed to be a hedgehog. From what he could feel, it wasn't natural. This thing wasn't just a normal hedgehog. 

     "So much like your father. Always the hero, rushing to help people…" the figure stated, his tone filled with nostalgia but laced with malice. "Heroes like you don't get far you know."

     "…Just who are you? By the way… you got five seconds to give me enough reasons not to kick your sorry-excuse-for-a-hedgehog's tail, into the ground!" Grapes said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

     "I was created long before your father, I am much more than just a hedgehog. I was much more. And now, I am truly the ultimate life form!" The figure stepped out from where he stood. What Grapes saw amazed him to no end. This hedgehog was a robot! It was mostly black except its hands and fingers were gray and it's legs had red and silver finishing. A white panel that resembled a shield was placed on its chest. The black quills had red streaks through them and suddenly, it clicked for Grapes.

     "Ultimate life form… Wait a sec, you knew my father! You're… Shadow! The Hedgehog! But, how?! You died a long time ago!" Grapes shouted. He still stood where he was, not eager to give a reason to attack and not willing to be too friendly. "You better explain yourself!"

     The black hedgehog laughed. "I have nothing to explain to the likes of you!" Shadow laughed uproariously. "And just to show you that I mean what I say,"

     Faster than what Grapes could follow, Shadow sped by him and reappeared behind Grapes. Grapes was shocked at his speed but then he winced as he felt his arm becoming wet and sticky. His gaze wandered to his right arm and sure enough there were claw marks there, the blood was slowly dripping down to his hand. 

     "See? Told you, fruit-boy! You may now refer to me as, _Mr_. Ultimate life-form!" Shadow chuckled.

     "What?!" Grapes turned around to face Shadow. Shadow held his right hand up, the claws still dripping with blood. "How? I'm invincible! There's no way you coulda been that fast, let alone get past my defenses and claw me!"

     Shadow only shook his head and wagged his finger at him. "Naughty, naughty! You need to stop thinking that you're the center of the universe! That's what got your father in trouble."

     "What do you know about my father?" Grapes seethed.

     At this Shadow laughed even harder, the derision in his voice clearly evident. "I alone know the darkness in his heart, only I know how his eyes light up with pleasure at the screams of your friends and family! I've been at his side and trained him how to kill with a song upon his lips! I know now we truly are brothers in combat, the true gods of death!" 

     "What makes you so sure you could kill me? I am my father's son! I won't give in without a fight and even then, I'm sure as hell I won't let the likes of you, take me alive!" Grapes said all this with a satisfied smirk. The wound on his arm was slowly healing by itself, stopping the flow of blood and he was more self-assured that he could win. A part of him even was delighted at the prospect of a challenge.

     Shadow only laughed once more. "'Your fathers' son' eh? If that's the case, then I already won!"

     Grapes snarled and readied his sword and slowly begun to advanced towards Shadow.

     "Before you waste your time on little 'ole me, you really should check up on your friends first." Shadow said while crossing his metallic arms across his chest.

     Grapes' eyes widened at the comment. His thoughts cross immediately to his mother but he then remembered Knuckles and how they were split up earlier…

     "You! What did you…? I'll kill you for this! If anything happens to him, I swear I'll cut your head off myself!" Grapes screamed. He rose up into the air and flew back the opposite direction, searching desperately for anything that could lead him to Knuckles.

     As Grapes flew away, Shadow watched, his face once more impassive. He placed two fingers to the side of his head. "Mecha Sonic, did you take care of the Echidna?" he asked.

     "Yes, Mecha Shadow. All is well." Came the reply.

     "Excellent. Stay there, I'll be there momentarily to finish off the loose end." There was a grunt of agreement on the other side and then Shadow removed his fingers from the side of his head. He powered up and began to skate along the winding road back to where Knuckles and Grapes would soon be found.

     It didn't take long to find Knuckles. Grapes didn't know why, but he had found Knuckles easily enough. He came upon his body, still freshly bleeding from the two holes in his body. His eyes were still open and so was his mouth. He had seen this look of terror before in others, usually right after they've been killed. Another hole was burned through Knuckles' skull, the finishing blow. 

     Grapes was still holding onto the sword when he had arrived. Seeing Knuckles on the floor dead had stunned him. He had struck the blade of his sword into the ground handle up, and he held onto the handle, as the rest of his body sagged to the blood soaked earth. He had then done something he hadn't done in years… he begun to cry. The tears came steady and his hatred towards Mecha Shadow began to grow just as steady as the tears. 

     He steadied himself up again using his sword as a cane. He wanted revenge; he wanted to kill him and his kind! But his super form was useless. If Shadow could attack him with such ease and actually penetrate his super form it'd be impossible to kill him, let alone trying to survive the ordeal.

     "But I have to try and stop them! It's what he would've wanted. What my father would've done…" he said this while looking at Knuckles' body.

     "You really should stop the hero thing. It's really starting to annoy me." Shadow's voice floated around Grapes.

     "Trust me, if not him. The hero way is no way at all." another voice joined in, eerily similar but yet different.

     "Come out and fight me, you bastard! I'll kill the both of you!" Grapes yelled. His face was twisted into a mask of fury and the tears flowed openly, his anger obviously starting to cloud his judgment.

     Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue and black blur racing towards him from both sides, at incredible speeds. He immediately transformed and flew up into the air, hoping that they'd crashed into another and give him time to strike back. He flew up and he saw that the both of them were following him still. His surprise stopped him for a second and that was all the time Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow needed.

     Sonic delivered an uppercut to Grapes, sending him flying even higher, while Shadow flew behind Grapes and sent a vicious backhand to Grapes in the back, sending him crashing back down into the earth. Grapes' body crashed into the dirt floor and his sword was lying a few meters away from him.

     Sonic was the first to arrive to Grapes. He landed softly on the ground and saw the sword and walked towards it. He picked it up and inspected it while Shadow was hovering nearby but out of sight, with his arms crossed. "Nice sword. Too bad it won't be of much use to you." Sonic said confidently.

     Grapes opened his eyes and saw Mecha Sonic standing before him. "…We'll see about that... and just who are you anyways, Shadow's twin?" he asked as he slowly stood up once more. 

     "You wouldn't believe me if I told you." he tossed the sword to Grapes. "It seems to me, you rely on that over-glorified butter knife to fight me. Take it, you'll need all the help you could get."

     "Whatever you say. Where's Shadow? I've got a circuit board to pick with him." Grapes asked. That was the only thing on his mind right now.  To Grapes, Shadow was the bigger threat, not this foolhardy robot. 

     "It doesn't matter. We're both pretty much the same…" Sonic immediately raised his arm and shot his arm cannon at Grapes. He had intentionally missed, but it had grazed his hand. "See what I mean?"

     Grapes was horrified at this recent turn of events. Just how many robots are actually armed with this sort of technology? And why was he is as fast as Shadow? Does this mean that he had killed Knuckles while Shadow was just a decoy? 

     He held his hand to stop the bleeding while considering what to do first. At this point, Grapes decided to stall for a little bit more time, to at least let his super form along with his own metabolism, heal his injured hand.

     "You actually hurt me… and you're pretty fast…" Grapes stated as he clutched his bleeding hand.

     Sonic nodded. "I should be. Aren't you wondering why? And how?"

     It was Grapes' turn to nod. 

     "I was born, Sonic, the hedgehog and later became Sir Sonic..."

     Grapes only gaped at Mecha Sonic for a bit. What?! What kinda crap is he spewing? How dare he try to impersonate my father? 

     "I see you do not believe me... No matter, I am Mecha Sonic. As of now, the introductions are over, and the time for idle chitchat is gone! It's time for you to die!"

     Sonic rushed forward with his left knee out. Grapes saw Sonic move, but his reaction was a second too late, and the knee that had been aimed at his chest and rammed into his ribs instead. Sonic quickly threw a quick uppercut and knocked Grapes away. He had tumbled along the ground and had looked up in time to see Sonic in the air and prepared to land his foot into his skull.

     He nimbly rolled away and back onto his feet again. He studied Mecha Sonic warily. "You're lying. My father died a long time ago, you're just a machine made to confuse me!" he said carefully.

     "And how would you know?" Sonic asked. He let loose a flurry of punches upon Grapes and he blocked a few but most had gotten through. Sonic was too fast and faked out enough times to land a few good solid punches. Soon, he had gotten past all of Grapes' defenses and kept punching away as if Grapes was nothing more than a training dummy. 

     Grapes was already starting to tire out and he could barely stay in his super form. Mecha Sonic sped forward and rammed his sharp ears into the gut of Grapes. Grapes was able to use his hands to block Sonic's attack by using his sword, just as the sharp tip of Sonics' ear was about to reach his midsection. 

     Sparks flew as Grapes fought with his sword, swing wide arcs and stabbing away at Sonic, while Sonic only batted them away with his fists or dodged them with little effort. They both quickly jumped apart and separated about ten feet from each other. 

     Sonic only looked at Grapes at waved him forward, not showing any fear of Grapes' prowess with a sword. He left his arms and most of his guard down.

     With a battle cry he lunged forward with a quick lower slash towards Sonics' legs. Sonic disappeared a second before the slash would have cut his legs off and reappeared beside Grapes. He smashed the side of Grapes' face with a right hook, quickly knocking him away.

     "Can't you do any better?! You mean to tell me all the time we've spent on training and observing you have amounted to only _this_? Pathetic!" Shadow exclaimed. He had reappeared, sitting in a relaxed way up on a tree branch. 

     "Oh well, I guess that's that then. You finish him off Sonic. I'm going to report to Mogul." With that, he disappeared into the forest leaving the two combatants alone once more.

     Grapes only watched Shadow disappear and then turned his sights toward Sonic. "If you are my father, you wouldn't have let this happen!"

     For the first time, Mecha Sonic seemed taken back.

     "You heard me. I have no proof that you're my father… but I don't have anything that says you might not be… whatever happens, happens. But still, if you were supposed to be my father, then you'd never have helped kill Knuckles! You'd stopped Shadow!"

     Sonic only rushed forward again and jumped into the air to deliver a double axe punch knocking Grapes down. As Grapes coughed up some blood Sonic spoke maliciously.

     "I _was_ Sonic the hedgehog! I am now Mecha Sonic, so get it straight!" Sonic kicked Grapes in the ribs and sent him rolling away towards a small lake. He stopped himself from rolling right before he would've fell in. 

     "I am not what you thought I was, so don't get all mushy on me!" Sonic began to charge up his twin arm cannons. "I believe I've dragged this out long enough. Good bye."

     Mecha Sonic aimed and fired, knocking Grapes off his feet and into the small lake with the blast kicking up some dust in the process. Mecha Sonic stood still for a few moments, waiting for Grapes to get up and out of the water. But he didn't. 

     He slowly flew up into the air and flew away; leaving Grapes to float in the body of water, face down.


	4. The Find

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past:

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (Nineteen years after) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after… 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

_"My son! This is my son, our son!"_

_"Grapes…"_

_"Grapes?! What kinda name is that, you Knucklehead?!"_

_"Well, you asked for my opinion…"_

_"Then it's settled! Grapes the Hedgehog…"_

_"AMY!"_

_"My son…"_

_"Grapes…"_

_…Father?_

_…Knux? …Mom?_

_…Someone?_

_…Anyone? _

     Grapes woke up with a start. His eyes widened and when he had tried to move he gave a small yelp of pain. His eyes searched around him, and he found that he was in his old room in his mothers' house, safe and sound. It was already morning and the birds chirped a bit too loud for Grapes' taste. 

     The pain he felt was all over his body and he felt a lot worse than what he had thought. In fact, he had thought he had died. The blasts were painful enough and should have killed him. His hands wandered over to his stomach and touched the carefully wrapped bandages and winced. He immediately scowled at the thought of the two robots out there that are able to kill him so easily. 

     I should have fought harder! They beat me, too easily, especially that Mecha Sonic. It didn't even last all that long! Talk about embarrassing… But, that Mecha Sonic… is he for real? Or just an elaborate faker? Grapes wanted to believe him, he wanted his father back, but not at like that, not when he's a robot and another enemy to worry about.

     He slowly moved out of bed and using his sword, which was sheathed, as a cane. Grapes began to move slowly outside to his living room. "…Mom?" No response.

     He walked slowly towards the nearest window and he couldn't find his mother. Usually in the mornings she'd be outside tending to the nearby flowerbeds. He moved a little bit faster towards the kitchen and looked out the window. He was relieved to find his mother coming towards the house. He waved to her and she waved back cheerfully, smiling all the while, when she saw him.

     "What are you doing up? You should be in bed!" Amy yelled as she opened the door, her face contorted into a mask of fury that all worried mothers possess. Grapes only chuckled sheepishly but winced again in pain in doing so.

     "Sorry, I just couldn't sleep." He said as he slowly sat down. "So, what did I miss?" he asked nonchalantly.

     Amy Rose didn't budge from her place as she kept an eye on Grapes. "You have the nerve to ask me that when I find you floating in a river half dead?" she yelled. She was about to reach for her hammer when Grapes became solemn. 

     "Mom… I'm just gonna say this first before all else... It's about Knuckles…"

     Amy nodded in acceptance. "I know… I found him, after I found you floating in that river. I buried him, next to your Uncle Tails." Amy was just as grim. She went over to Grapes and hugged him and he hugged her back. He soon moved away, trying not to let the sting of the tears and the memories get to him. Grapes only looked at the kitchen table for comfort, unable to look to his mother for solace. He had long given that up. 

     "I'm sorry for everything…" Amy said, hoping it'd comfort Grapes somehow.

     "Eh? For what?" Grapes asked as he turned around. He was confused. Of all people and things what did she had to feel sorry about?

     "It's silly, but I'm sorry I couldn't shield you from all this. You shouldn't be worried with war and stopping some megalomaniac! You should be out with friends, maybe dating." Amy said the last part with a sigh. "You should be having fun, going to school, that sorta thing." 

     At this Grapes laughed with amusement. "Yeah, but normalcy is overrated! Besides, look at what I grew up with! My dad's a renowned hero! You, dad, Tails, Knux, you guys were celebrities. How can I not end up like dad? Even you and Uncle Tails started the hero business around the same age I decided to join the fight against Mogul!"

     Amy only shook her head. A small smile tugged on her lips but she didn't want to ruin her point. "Granted, normalcy isn't everything, but sometimes it's what you need to escape the crazier things in life."

     Grapes nodded until suddenly something clicked in his memory. "Hey, I was wondering about something… um… what do you know about… robots that were built to resemble dad?" He cringed at his own words but he didn't know how else to put it.

     "What?" Amy asked, clearly shocked.

     "I—what I mean to say is… I saw something, two robots. One was black and said his name was Shadow and the other one claimed to be… dad…" 

     "I… don't know what to say."

     "I know you know something!" Grapes begged his mother. "If that's my father out there, if that's him, I need to know!"

     "Let's say it is him… what do you plan to do afterwards?" Amy demanded with her hands on her hips. Grapes stood fast, silent and without another argument to present. "That's what I thought. You **are** your fathers' son, too impatient. You need to think this out!"

     Amy took a deep breath and began to speak. "I was very young at the time, only eight. I lived on Little Planet, literally, a small planet, all by myself. I remembered when I met your father, and he saved me from a robot that looked like him called Metal Sonic. Later on, I found out he was always fighting this madman named Dr. Robotnik and after that he's always tried to create the perfect mechanical construct of your father, so that he could finally defeat your father."

     Grapes listened intently while Amy gauged his face for any sort of emotion. All she could see was his determination for the truth, the same kind of purpose that used to generate from a certain blue hedgehog with green eyes… She took another deep breath and started up again, it's the least she could do for Grapes.

     "One day, the impossible happened. I wasn't around at the time, but your father… he was captured… ambushed to be exact, by Nack the Weasel. He was roboticized… It was horrible, he became everyone's worst nightmare, our knight in shining armor reduced to another monster to be destroyed." 

     "However that wasn't going to happen soon. He was just too powerful. He was the best Robotnik had under his command. He had installed a new feature in his roboticizers, the 'brain burn-thru'. It made your father a slave to Robotnik. It truly seemed like the end."

     "Queen Acorn, back then, Princess Sally, called up Knuckles to take your father down, and even then it didn't work. They had to resort to roboticizing him in order to even out the odds!"

     "Whoa! Really?!" Grapes was excited at the turn of events since he was kept in the dark of most of the secrets of the past.

     Amy nodded. "It worked alright, but the two pretty much fought to the death. It got pretty bad, I don't know much about it, but from what Knuckles told me they were flying straight into the heart of Robotropolis and a cache of nuclear warheads, but your father somehow subconsciously or whatever, put himself in the line of fire to save Knuckles and took most of the damage."

     "When they brought him back to fix him up, he was dying. They only managed to save him through Sally's computer Nicole. She found that after your father had gotten his one-billionth ring, it somehow created a mystical aura and contained what was left of your father's spirit. It protected him from the brain burn-thru system and Nicole was able to save your father."

     "So I take it everyone got back to normal then, happy ending?"

     Amy nodded. "Yeah. But of course your father had to go to trial to prove he didn't volunteer for roboticization. I was a witness at that hearing also. I still kept the picket sign I used to protest against your father being jailed!"

     Grapes was just about to make a remark until Amy shot him a look. Wisely he decided to keep that remark to himself.

     "Hmm… didn't you mention that there was a robot calling himself Shadow?"

     Grapes nodded. 

     "Well… there never was a Shadow look alike out there. He never lived long enough for one to be made and Robotnik never really bothered to try. As for the Mecha Sonic… tell me, what did this new one look like?"

     Grapes stroked his chin as he thought. "Well, it had pretty sharp ears, red eyes, two arm cannons, and for some reason his forearms were yellow and his arms were actually small round spheres connected to each other, like the wasps that usually come around here. Got a hell of an attitude, a bit sarcastic…"

     Amy's mouth hung open in shock. Before Grapes could ask what's wrong she quickly asked him. "Is there anything else?"

     "What's up? Did I say something wrong?" Grapes asked hesitantly.

     Amy swallowed hard. "It's possible that Mecha Sonic is probably based off some designs when your father was roboticized… but… that exactly describes your father when he was roboticized!"

     "What?!" Grapes said in a strained voice.

     Amy shook her head. "I don't know… that's what the original Mecha Sonic looked like… I don't know…"

     "You mean you don't want to get my hopes up..." Grapes stated blandly. "I understand. It could be, it might not be. But it doesn't matter; I'm going to avenge everyone by killing Mogul. Sonic and Shadow could either join me or die."

     "Grapes… son…" Amy was about to plead when she saw the look in her sons' eyes. They lost most of its usual hue of intense green. They radiated an intense deadly red for one moment, as if he was starting to power up unconsciously. 

     "I can't let them live, but at the same time they could kill me, easily! That's how I ended up like this!" Grapes yelled as he pointed to his bandages. He slammed his fist into the table out of anger and loss. "They could kill me just like that… I can't fight my own father, but I can't kill him or Shadow… Much less ask them to join me against Mogul."

     "I see…" Amy stated. They both sat next to each other, silent, neither one knowing what to say or do.

     "There is something that might be able to help you… but it's a long shot…" Amy said doubtfully. Grapes looked up, his face torn between hope and confusion. Was there something that could bring his father back to him?

     "I remember meeting your grandparents some time ago, before they died, they were turned into robots by Robotnik. Well, your father's Uncle Chuck, found a way to use these golden rings to give your grandparents back their free will. Your grandparents regained their memories and everything because of these golden rings…"

     "That's great!" Grapes exclaimed as he rushed up from his seat. "Ah! Ah! Whiplash!" Grapes winced and his hand went straight to his midsection. But he soon went back to this new bit of information. "This is great! I'll find these rings and if that's really my dad and Shadow, I'm gonna free them from Mogul!"

     "Grapes… The rings have been gone for a long time now. Mogul made sure to get rid of them ever since he came into power! He didn't want anyone to become powerful enough to stop him. Any body of water that contained golden rings was immediately destroyed."

     Grapes only stared at his mother in shock before falling back into his seat again. Seeing the reaction on her son's face she quickly tried to amend her statement.

     "The only ring in existence is the Ring of Acorns! I don't know where it might be, but I'm sure it still exists somewhere…"

     "How do you figure that…?" Grapes asked sullenly. 

     "I used that Ring to wish myself a decade older when I was six, so I could be closer to your father. If it were destroyed somehow, I'd be ten years younger, meaning the wish would be taken back." Amy stared at her hands in wistfulness. "Well, if it were gone, I wouldn't complain all _that_ much." She said with a chuckle.

     "You look fine mom." Grapes said earnestly. Amy looked at her son and she could tell he was being honest, rarely did he ever had to lie to her.

     "So I guess that's it then. Why does everything seem like a dead end all of a sudden?" Grapes asked himself.

     "Don't be like that. The future isn't set in stone!" Amy said cheerfully. "Well, I think it's been long enough a day, why don't I make you some lunch?" She went to one of her cabinets and began to rummage for some foodstuffs until she realized her son didn't respond. She turned around to find Grapes thinking and gazing out through a nearby window, and into the horizon. 

     "Grapes?" she asked hesitantly. "Is something wrong?"

     Grapes whipped his head around, his face full of vibrant life once more. "Yeah, I'd appreciate some lunch. But first, I got something to handle!" Grapes immediately ran out the door, ignoring the pain that shot through his body. He quickly powered up to his super form, and flew as fast as he could to Knuckles' place.

     "Wait! Grapes! Ooh… I swear…" Amy muttered as she watched her son disappear into the distance.

     Damn it! There's gotta be something! Grapes thought as he rummaged through the small hut. He remembered how Knuckles seemed so intent on time travel. He also remembered his last words to him. He knew how his last comments must have really hurt Knuckles and this was the only thing that kept Grapes going, the thought that he could make it all right again, by going back in time.

     Would he really need to do it? All he would need to do is find the Ring of Acorns and use it in conjunction with the Sword of Acorns. With what knowledge he knew about the sword and how it can grant free will to mechanized mobians, he could restore order, maybe even have his father back.

     But as of the moment, it'd too dangerous. The enemy believed him to be dead and if he were to find the ring he'd have to move about in the open. Should he be found out to be alive and well again, he'd doubt he'd survive another encounter. Even his mother has said to him, that second chances were rare in this kind of world.

     Grapes slumped against a nearby wall and slid down and ended up sitting on his haunches. I can't leave yet; I know I'm close. I have to find it, I have to make everything right again. Tails, Knux, Mom, Dad… I can't let you all down again. he thought with resolve. He stood back up with the determination, but his wounds made him fall back down again.

     "Oh man! This whole wounded thing is really starting to grate on my nerves!" Grapes muttered. He was about to get up when his eyes came across something green. It stuck out mostly because it was covered with white paper and how he had missed it, didn't faze him in the least. He dug through the pile and found that it was a green notebook, filled with Knuckles' handwriting.

     A journal? Interesting, I never knew he had one of these lying around… he thought as he sat down and began to flip through the pages. Sorry about this Knuckles, I hope you understand… 

**Journal Entry #531,**

**     Grapes is making amazing progress. He shows no signs of fatigue when he pushes himself over the limit. He would just get back up, push himself harder and get stronger. His speed is incredible as well. I still have some data on Sonics' old speed records, and the son has surpassed the father in every category by at least fifteen seconds. **

**     However I'm still concerned about recent events. Mogul has been too quiet lately. Grapes is strong but not yet strong enough to challenge him head on. I could only do so much without Tails, and even Sonic and the original freedom fighters to back me up. Times like this, I wish the Chaotix were still around. I'll get him for you guys. Just you wait and see.**

     Concerning Mogul, there is nothing that'd point to any wrongdoing, as of yet. Our informants and spies from the Freedom Fighters report nothing suspicious and everything is too quiet. The calm before the storm…

**Journal Entry #622,**

**     In my experience, a back up plan is always needed. Thus, I've devised this. I'm no mechanical genius but I'm as good as anyone, especially since I discovered some of Tails' old notebooks. **

**     Inside, are all kinds of theories for weapons, dimensions, even time travel and genetic engineering that could revolutionize anything we've ever seen up to this point... **

**     This sorta stuff could pull our tails out of the fire and end this war once and for all. However, the thing that interests me the most is time travel. This might be the end of Mogul after all. More to come later on…**

**Journal Entry #701,**

**     Experiment twelve worked all according to plan. Out of a total of fifteen experiments, only number twelve worked perfectly. I've been making adjustments here and there, and this is the only one that contains the right frequencies to come and go as you please throughout the timestream. **

**     Only this one; can safely bring you from and to any time period. Soon, everything will be better again and none of this will come to pass. Perhaps I'm being rash but I've always put myself before others and this is no different. **

**     If I'm erased from existence, it won't matter, a Knuckles that has never seen what I've seen, will be there to take care of things. He won't ever know the ravages of war; neither will Grapes and future kids that would've been born if not for Master Mogul…**

**     On a side note, Mogul is planning something alright… Latest news from our spy network points to him leading a search party for Amy Rose, Grapes' mother. I don't know what he wants with her, but there's no way he's getting her. My guess, he wants a way to control Grapes, or at the very least throw him off his game so that he could make a mistake. I won't let that happen…**

**Journal Entry #705,**

**     It's starting. Mogul has made his move. Queen Sally Acorn, Princess Samantha Acorn… died in an ambush. The last of the Acorn resistance, whatever was left of the monarchy, nearly everyone and everything that was affiliated with them, has been wiped clean off the planet. It had been a 'public execution'. There were some traces left, whereas usually there's none. **

**     This is his message to us. He's telling us that he's gunning for us and we had better pull something from out of our asses or else we're as good as dead… The Brotherhood and The Dark Legionnaires are scrambling to mobilize their troops  I'd never thought I'd say this but we're as good as dead at this point. With my dad and the past guardians taken out of the picture, these new guys can't cut it. Without them and their connections, we were lucky to make it this far. It seems this might be it.**

**     Anyways, the last surviving footage I've been able to take from security cameras didn't show much. My hopes were to find the things that did this and maybe knock them off the active roster, thus giving us more time to mobilize or something. **

**     Also, any and all information that spoke of a Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow being built over the last few months may have to be disregarded. I have a feeling someone has chosen to betray the throne. It was all too perfect, done without a hitch. It's a theory but I'll keep my eyes open nonetheless. **

     I've been expecting something like this, but not something to this scale. He massacred them all in one shot. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. He had almost killed me the same way. I wish I could say the same for my forefathers, surviving to see another day like I had. They didn't make it. However I'm glad they're not around to see what kind of mess Mogul has made this world to be. 

     That was the last journal entry… And Knuckles knew about Shadow and Sonic! More or less… They were built… but even he said it himself, that info could be fake… Damn… what should I do now? Grapes thought to himself as he closed the book shut. He looked through the entire book and there had been nothing that would show Grapes how far Knuckles had advanced in time travel or anything of the sort. He looked at the book again and inspected it. He then noticed the book covers were extremely thick… compared to an ordinary book anyways.

     Did he put it inside the book covers? Did he actually make the covers hollow? He searched the entire journal for some sort of latch of a lock or something. There was nothing… I can't believe this is it! There has to be more! 

     He got up again and decided to do another search until he noticed the book he was holding, the journal began to slip. The entire book fell out of his grasp and then he noticed that the book was pretty much normal except it **was** hollow and it had slid off, instead of something that had to be pulled out.

     He looked at the book. It looked strange since the book looked mutilated with out the rest of the cover. He noticed there was a folded piece of paper and a key. Grapes opened up the paper and all he could see were strange markings all over it. The only thing he could recognize was one phrase, one location…

     The Mystic Ruins…


	5. The Journey

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past:

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years later) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after… 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

     Robots are just machines. They do not feel, nor do they make any conscious actions outside of their programming or their masters' orders. However, Mecha Sonic wasn't like that, he was far beyond that as a matter of fact. He obeyed his creator Master Mogul, but he had the will to make his own decisions and judgments.

     No matter how hard he tries to remember, or how long he had searched through his memory banks and back up files, he could never figure out how he came to be. Even doing diagnostics checks only further confused Sonic, since his own complex systems only contradict normal robots and other advanced forms of AI. 

     All he could really remember was his activation, and coming face to face with his 'father' Mogul. Soon he met his brother, Shadow and they had become inseparable ever since. 

    Although irrelevant, something deep within nags at him, especially after meeting his alleged son… how is it that a robot such as he, able to think for himself, let alone have a son? 

     He has his orders, programming, and failsafe devices to keep him loyal should something happen… but, why was he designed with his own free will? Why was Shadow the same way? Weren't robots unfeeling? Was he ever a robot to begin with? What is he? What was he?

     At this point, Sonic shook his head to clear away the nagging feeling. He continued his journey to his home, his masters' home, and he knew all would be well.

     "I want an army by midnight, Ivo. I won't wait any longer than I have to." A voice rumbled. The man named Ivo, once Dr. Robotnik stood in his cell, his back turned towards the figure shrouded in the dark. Ivo only chuckled as he traced his fingers along the stone wall in front of him. Soon his chuckling became louder and louder, until his laughter became maniacal. He whirled around to face Mogul.

     "My apologies Mogul. You're under the impression that I care! I'll get them to you all right. What was it again, a thousand Mecha Sonics and Shadows? Two regimes, that you yourself will lead into battle to crush the rebellion?" At this, Ivo cackled insanely. 

     "Do you have any idea how many times I've tried to do something like that, you fool? All my precious sons and daughters I've sent out to the battlefield against that accursed hedgehog, and they've all died in vain! I hate him! I hate that hedgehog! "

     "Robotnik…" Mogul warned.

     "IVO!" Ivo yelled. "I am not this Robotnik you speak of, or this Eggman, you hear me!?" 

     Mogul only grunted. Over the years, he had driven Robotnik insane, just for the purpose of doing so. It had taken some time and effort but in the end it was all worth it. To Mogul, it seemed that the madness made Robotnik a much more formidable inventor.  

     "Listen to me… Your Sonic and Shadow clones won't do! I need you to get an army of **TEN THOUSAND** Shadows and Sonics! I need them roboticized! Your first experiment worked, but if I am to run the rebellion into the ground, I need an army of mechanized versions of their greatest warriors, not just two!"

     "Tough luck, but tell you what. I'll get them to you. One at a time, like I promised." Ivo spoke in a condescending tone, as if he spoke to child that was demanding candy from a stranger.

     "Now leave me alone. I need to watch the moss over by the sink grow. It's truly fascinating; perhaps I could make that into a doomsday weapon someday… What do you think Mogul?"

     Mogul walked away from the mad scientist in contempt. He thought about his options and came to the conclusion that Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow should be able to handle anything the rebels would use against him. 

     It would seem he would have to wait for his army. His idea was to let their own friends crush the meddlesome troublemakers. He had spent time setting everything up so his enemies could die in one fell swoop... 

     But if that's the way things were to be, at least now if the first Mecha Sonic or Shadow should be defeated, they could be easily replaced.

     He had thought back to the past, he remembered all the attacks made on him, and how he had purposely ignored them all… only so he could concentrate on building up his forces while his enemies let their guards down over time. 

     By the time he had reached his quarters, he went straight to his balcony. He gazed out at the land from his fortress built over the fallen city of Robotropolis. Somewhere his enemies were hiding and with his newest generals, he would destroy every single one of them and nothing and no one would stop him.

     "I'm glad you're back." Shadow said as he found Sonic, standing guard in the underground research facility underneath Robotropolis. "We have another mission." They began to walk down the corridors and passing by them, Sonic could only wonder why. 

     "We just finished a mission." He stated

     Shadow only spoke with patience in his voice. "I know. We're about to finish this little war so that's why we're so busy all of a sudden. Mogul has already ordered me to kill off his old generals."

     "Are we to replace them?" Sonic asked. Shadow had only nodded once. He looked in front of him and there was the final door. On it, was the number seventeen painted in a bright red hue. He walked over to it, and he slipped his two fingers inside a small electronic jack. A computerized voice confirmed Shadow's identity and it swiftly opened.

     "Where are we?" Sonic asked. He looked around, scanning the area for heat signatures and to record this place in his memory banks and backup files. He then noticed several glass tubes in front of Shadow, filled with hedgehogs.

     "They're… hedgehogs…" Sonic said slowly. "What… is this?"

     Shadow only glared at Sonic. "I thought you knew. This is where we were born, so to speak."

     "Born? We're robots, we were created weren't we?" Sonic asked.

     Shadow shook his head. 

     "The Master told me, as I thought he would've told you by now… We were roboticized here, a long time ago, to prepare for Grapes and Knuckles and everyone else in the rebellion."

     Sonic only studied the hedgehogs in the tubes. He couldn't distinguish their fur colors but he knew he was looking at an organic version of himself. 

     "We were hedgehogs? We were roboticized?"

     Again, Shadow's voice was filled with patience. 

     "We are clones. We were created in this very laboratory. I do not have any recollection of being alive, and neither should you. Once we were 'born' from these tubes and tested for our natural abilities, we were roboticized when we were ready. This was done to enhance our abilities and make us stronger. Understood?"

     Sonic walked up to the tube that contained his own clone. His hands touched the glass and his hand slowly moved across the features. "Alive… we were alive?"

     "Yes, we were. From what information I was given, we were both alive at one point. We both died and our blood samples were taken to ensure our survival and roboticization in the future."

     Sonic didn't have much to say, but he had much to contemplate. After a while Shadow interrupted the silence.

     "You went straight to Ivo's laboratory to get the blood cleaned off your claws right?"

     Sonic nodded, still entranced by the sight of himself inside the tube.

     "Good." 

     Soon, an alarm went off, signaling the complete roboticization of an organic being. "I believe our masters' newest general is on his way out. When you were ordered to kill Knuckles I knew you wouldn't fail us in retrieving the blood samples."

     Sonic looked towards the main roboticizer and waited for whatever it was to come out and to make itself known. What stepped out was mainly red, with silver forearms and claws. Metallic red dreadlocks covered its head. He slowly walked out and Shadow was the first to greet him. 

     Sonic felt that nagging feeling in the back of his CPU rising up, when he saw it walk down the ramp. He knew things were about to be different from that point on.

     "Welcome to the world, Mecha Knuckles."

     "The Mystic Ruins?! You want to go there?!" Amy yelled as Grapes shrunk back a bit in slight fear. "Why would you want to go _there_ of all places?"

     Grapes had returned some time ago, and he had a lot to explain as to why he was late for lunch…

     "Well, to put it bluntly, I need to save the world." Grapes said as calmly as he could. Amy sighed and covered her eyes with one hand. 

     "Of course, saving the world before dinner time, the one and only past time, and motto of this family." Amy sighed again. "What are you going to do there? Destroy a hidden missile silo underneath the base of the ruins?" she asked sarcastically.

     Grapes laughed nervously. "Actually, I'm planning to go back to the past and change the future!" he said in a joking manner. He quickly shrunk under the gaze of a less than cheerful Amy Rose. 

     "Well, Knuckles had planned on it, and now I want to act on it! Tails had the idea, and Knuckles perfected a way to travel back in time. I want to do this; it might be the only way to stop Mogul!" 

     Amy watched Grapes carefully, trying to understand the implications. If he goes back in time and stops this nightmare from ever happening, everyone would be alive. She'd be different, and so would everyone else… but in the end, erased from existence yet still alive...

     "Grapes, you do understand what you're saying don't you? If you go back into the past, we might end up in worse off than we are now!"

     Grapes only nodded at his mother. He knew of the risks and he had thought it over. If he had to give his life to save the world, he'd do it a thousand times over. It's what his father would have done, what Tails would have done, and what Knuckles would have done, no matter how self-serving it may have been in Knuckles' case.

     "Believe me mom, I have to, and I want to. And we may be worse off, but at least we have a chance to survive." Grapes said. 

     Amy turned away from Grapes and thought about what he said. She could only think about how things were at this point... 

     Would she be able to stand to see her only son be killed and then, eventually herself? That's what most likely to happen if he didn't do this. Maybe things would get better…  but with this time traveling device it's almost guaranteed… 

     "I understand, and I'll believe in you like I did in your father. But don't let me down Grapes… please." 

     Grapes was about to say something to comfort her, but in an instant he knew this was a goodbye, that she was slowly pushing him away and barely holding on. He has always known his mother to be strong, and right now, he could see her strength wavering.

     "I won't, mother." Grapes slowly walked up to his room to gather what he would need. From there, he'll just take off from his window and go straight to the Mystic Ruins. He has already said goodbye and he doesn't want to see his mother again, otherwise it'd be harder to leave the second time around.

     Deep within the recesses of the jungle lie the Mystic Ruins, an ancient site erected centuries ago. Grapes, after some extensive adventuring, found an old trolley car and he directed himself to the Mystic Ruins. When he arrived at the end of the tracks, he stepped out to find himself facing a giant pyramid. He remembered the riddle that was inscribed in Knuckles' logbook, "Two stone statues. The door to the past…"

     He knew what he had to find… Grapes spent hours searching and he found a gold statue and a silver statue. The silver one was much harder to find, but when he found a small hidden cave within the canopy of trees, he also found a small shrine rising out from the ground. 

     Losing his patience and the fact that he couldn't dig for his life, he quickly took out his sword and began hacking away at it, and then he found the silver statue buried underneath the earth.

     "Hmm. I guess this is it." Grapes mumbled to himself, as he slowly approached the pyramid. He walked up the stairs and there were two slots made of gold and silver. Dropping them softly nearby each slot, the statues made a resounding click as they connected, and another click as a door underneath him opened up and swallowed him whole.

     Grapes soon found himself falling at an incredible rate and he immediately turned super to control his descent. The light that emanated from his body helped him to explore the ruins. He immediately hovered down slowly and inspected his surroundings, which weren't much. He remembered how Knuckles described the Mystic Ruins as a maze. 

     I guess he must have remodeled around the same time he started to work on his time traveling device. Grapes thought to himself. 

     When he reached the floor, there was only darkness except for the immediate area around him, which was bathed in the light emanating from his body. Walking cautiously along a hallway, he looked around for a sign of a door. When he reached the end of it, he found it was only a dead end. The hallway only lead to a small room and there was nothing there!

     At least there's some light in here… Grapes thought as he noted the torch to his right. 

     Then a realization hit him and he pulled the torch. It slowly came out and it went back in almost immediately when Grapes released it from his hold. A loud rumbling reverberated throughout the pyramid and Grapes drew his sword to prepare for what's to come. Suddenly, from the center of the room, a part of the center of the floor lowered, and acted as a ramp.

     Grapes took initiative and ran down the ramp and found a brightly lit room, much bigger than the previous one. It held many tables with mechanical parts, and in some parts of the room, there were unfinished projects or robots that have been chopped for parts. Further to his right, he could see a bed, a sink, a toilet, a refrigerator, and a table with a few books on it, and even a stove.

     He had finally stumbled upon Knuckles' secret laboratory…

     Grapes wanted to snoop around a bit until something caught his eye. It was perfectly round. It was black on the bottom, and steel gray around the sides, and had one giant light in the front of it. There was a jet engine in the back, and there were four legs that held it from toppling over and rolling away. On top, there was a glass dome that looked was flipped open, leaving the cockpit empty and vulnerable.

     Immediately, he realized it was a vehicle often used by Dr. Robotnik. Could this be Knuckles' time machine? Grapes wondered to himself. His doubts were soon put to rest as he saw the number twelve, neatly scribbled on the side of the craft. The number of the only successful time traveling device Knuckles had made.

     Not thinking twice, he hopped into the cockpit. He knew nothing about machines but he was a fast learner. Plus, it wasn't all that hard to use since most of the controls were labeled. "What the? A karaoke machine? What would I need that for?!" Grapes growled.

     His thoughts soon returned back to the task at hand. He had to go back to the past and save the future. What time should I put in? 

     Grapes slowly put in eighteen years until he did the calculations. In order for him to stop Mogul, he had to go even further into the past. Okay. Twenty-nine years it is. But before he had a chance to do that, he realized he might need time to prepare for any eventuality. He typed in thirty years and pressed enter.

     Suddenly a recorded message started to play. As Grapes listened, he realized it was Knuckles' voice!

**     To whoever is driving this thing… this is a time machine I have devised, the only one in existence. Do what you will with it, but remember, it's not a toy. You zap yourself to the Big Bang, it's your fault.**

**     Well… I'm pretty sure as of this moment, that I'm the one doing the driving and I'm actually going through with this crazy plan… If that's the case, then I wish for the best. Don't worry Knuckles. Just clean this mess up and we'll all go home nice and happy… Heh, that's gotta be a sign of insanity, I'm talking to myself! **

**     However, if it's not… then I surmise that I've died... Otherwise, this time machine would have never been found and so on. Grapes, if it's you driving… I hope you come through for us all. I have faith in you. **

**     And speaking of which, take care of this baby. It's cliché, but I've christened this vessel… 'Faith'. I did so because sometimes Hope can only get you so far. Good luck, and take care of yourself Grapes...**

     "Take care, old man…" Grapes murmured as he pressed a button to lower the glass dome. Within seconds, the machine glowed a bright blue. It slowly hovered off the floor while the four legs that protruded from the round time machine, slowly retracted. Grapes wiped a tear from his eye as he pressed the button that would send him to his destiny. Soon, a bright flash engulfed the room, and he was soon sent hurtling thirty years into the past.


	6. The Encounter

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past: (Timeframe Grapes Enters in, after Sonic Adventure 2)

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years after) 

Sonic – 37

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

     Grapes had finally executed his plan of going back in time. After much deliberation, and a thrashing at the hands of Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow, he came to the conclusion that he had no choice. He quickly did some quick investigating and soon he found Knuckles' laboratory and strapped himself into the time machine christened 'Faith'.

     But now, it seems so long ago… Grapes absently toyed with the button for the Karaoke machine. 

     "Cripes, how long is this gonna take?!" Grapes yelled in frustration. He accidentally smashed his fist along the control panel and he immediately regretted it once he saw the circuits giving out blue sparks of energy and the ship itself began to shake. But soon the black void he has been used to seeing in the last ten minutes, finally disappeared to reveal a clear blue sky. 

     Grapes' mouth opened in awe as he saw the birds fly overhead and he immediately peered to the side. Trees littered the countryside along with rivers he had only heard about as a child, and some he had never even seen before, except in the history books that were given to him by Knuckles. He quickly steered the Faith down. He knew that the time machine was made from Robotniks' own aircraft and he couldn't risk being seen as of yet, if he didn't want to be shot down from the sky that is. 

     As he lowered towards the ground, out from the corner of Grapes' eyes a glint of light shone in the distance. Looking up, he saw something falling towards him almost like a downed airplane. 

     Grapes immediately try to evade it, but he didn't count on what was after him and how fast it was really going. Before Grapes could steer his time machine safely from harms way, the speeding projectile had slammed right into the glass dome of the time machine. At the angle it had hit, the time machine, Grapes, and the unidentified flying object was sent careening towards a river.

     Grapes slammed his palm onto the button and opened whatever was left of the glass dome. He powered up and flew outside of his craft and veered it off course from the body of water. Doing so in the nick of time landed the machine on the bank of the river, but not without any less damage. 

     He groaned. The Faith was pretty beaten up and it was only his first five minutes in the past! What next? Grapes pleaded to himself, and to whatever deity was listening, that he may be spared for the remainder of the trip...

     At that very second he heard a groan coming from the time machine. Running over to check it over, he found someone on the back of it! He looked pretty beat up and the burn marks that covered his body didn't look so severe although he should at least have second degree burn marks if he was going that fast in the first place…

     What amazed him the most was the fact it was a golden hedgehog, almost like the way he looked when he went into his super form. When he thought he couldn't be surprised any further, the golden hedgehogs' fur began to darken into a coarse dark black, accompanied by red highlights in the quills, revealing it to be none other than Shadow the Hedgehog. 

     "Well… this is certainly turning out to be a great day!" Grapes grumbled to himself as he began to drag Shadows' unmoving, and scarcely breathing body, away from the wreckage of the damaged time ship. "This would be very bad if I accidentally killed you…"

     The immense bio-lizard… a lost cause… his life he had chosen to forfeit in order to keep a promise to someone very special… and a brother he had found, and his own life lost in the intense heat… this was all that he had remembered before everything around him turned pitch black, and the feeling of volcanic ash being forced into his lungs. 

     Now he could breath again, the fresh air he had so missed while being out in space…

     Wait… Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Falling through the earth's atmosphere without proper protection usually does that to you…

     But it seems, not in his case. Shadow paid attention and listened to his surroundings and found no one was around. He opened his eyes carefully and found himself under a tree, covered in bandages and his right arm in a cast. He slowly flexed the muscles in his other arm and found it sore if anything.

     I am alive, and so it this world! Sonic, we did it! But… how am I alive? Shadow looked around. He saw nothing around him save a small campfire long extinguished and leftovers of a very big fish dinner. Looking at the dead carcasses Shadow embraced the feeling of being alive again, and the moment was ruined when he realized he was extremely hungry.

     Hearing a noise, he quickly closed his eyes and feigned unconsciousness. 

     Grapes was a tad bit angry... Just a bit. Already a few weeks into the past and he had done nothing important, save being a nursemaid to Shadow. Sure it was important that he survived, but the future depended on him stopping Mogul in time and maybe even finishing Robotnik off at the very least. 

     Normally he would love a chance to learn more about the past, but right now wasn't the time to play tourist or the over ambitious student.

     After tending to Shadows' injuries for the day, he went to catch some lunch for himself. Finishing his ample lunch in record time as usual, he realized that he didn't save enough for Shadow to eat and decided to go catch some more fish in the river before he woke up.

     Hmm… I'll probably need a cover story. Eh, maybe I could say I'm a distant cousin of my mother, Amy Rose? Or maybe a previously unknown relative of Sonic? I have the speed to match… He quickly stopped dead in his tracks when he realized he heard something stirring. He rushed back to his campsite expecting a fight but was glad that it was only Shadow, moving in his sleep.

     I gotta relax… this isn't my timeline. Mogul isn't a threat to this world, not yet at least. Grapes assured himself. He immediately put the fish down on the frying pan and began to light the fire. Taking two rocks, he began striking them together and the sparks gave life a newly roaring campfire and it was soon on its way to cooking Shadows' dinner.

     "You better appreciate this, Shadow." Grapes mumbled as he set the cooking utensils up.

     "I do, but first… Tell me who you are."

     Grapes closed his eyes and smirked to himself. How long had Shadow been awake? It doesn't matter… At least my cover isn't blown. 

     "Well Shadow, you don't know me, but I do know you. Believe me when I say I wasn't intentionally looking for you, you just happened to crash nearby and luckily I'm well versed in the art of first aid!" 

     He turned to face Shadow with a cool confident look but he wavered once he saw the look in Shadows' eyes. They weren't so much as menacing as they were penetrating. Grapes regained his composure and quickly cleared his throat. "So anyways, how are you feeling?" 

     Shadow only continued his scrutiny. "I know you from somewhere. You look very familiar… have we met before?" he asked.

     "Eh… heh heh… Would you believe I'm Sonic's fifth cousin twice removed?" he asked nervously but managed to make it sound as if he was joking.

     Before Shadow could interrogate him, a loud snap was heard. Grapes immediately turned around and saw several soldiers in dark blue uniforms holding weaponry of various kinds. They had dark visors covering their entire faces and their armor had the initials G.U.N on them. They didn't attack but rather stayed on the defense.

     I can't transform in front of Shadow! At least, not yet… maybe I could just outfight them… Grapes was ready to unsheathe his sword until two mechanical aircrafts touched down upon the ground in front of him. They walked on two hind legs and two giant shoulder cannons with multiple missiles. It had two arms and connected to them were three extremely sharp claws.

     "**Shadow the Hedgehog! You are hereby under arrest under the authority of G.U.N! Surrender peacefully or else!"** The first one said. Grapes could see the pilot behind it and knew it was called an overlander. He had never seen one in his life and didn't care either way. The first one turned towards Grapes. **"You, in the purple jacket! For collaborating with the enemy, you are also placed under arrest!"**

     Grapes only stepped forward with a smirk on his face a mile wide. "You think you could just take me in? Just like that? You don't even know what you're dealing with."

     Receiving it as a threat, the two mechs stepped back while the foot soldiers all rushed at Grapes, ready to shoot to kill. He slowly pulled out his sword, and faster than anyone could track, Grapes ran headfirst at the soldiers. 

     By the time the soldiers reached where Grapes was standing earlier, they had all dropped unconscious on the floor. There were no cut marks and it was obvious from the way he smirked, he had only knocked them out with the flat side of the sword. Grapes only stood a few feet behind the foot soldiers. He held his sword steady, with the point out horizontally, the tip of the sword facing the two pilots.

     "So tell me. What is it that you wanted again?" Grapes asked casually. His sword was still pointed towards the two pilots.

     **"We're here to take you in, dead or alive!"** the leader replied. 

     Grapes smiled a genuine smile and then chuckled to himself, since he was the only one that could appreciate the humor in this... "Ignorance is bliss."

     This only angered the two soldiers and the leader fired all his missiles at him while the other shot his gatling gun at Grapes. Shadow who had been watching closely at the mysterious young hedgehog, shielded his eyes from the intense firefight. His body is still worse for the wear and was proven when he had tried to get up to help the young lad.

     When the dust had cleared, it had seemed the two soldiers had won. Grapes was nowhere to be seen and the spot he was standing in had been turned into a medium sized crater.

     **"Good work. Let's get Shadow and get the hell out of here."** the leader commanded. They immediately began to walk to towards Shadow. Shadow silently cursed them for killing the kid that had saved his life and only gritted his teeth in frustration. I can't believe it's all going to end like this! 

     "Hey! The losers in the tin cans!" 

     The soldiers responded and looked to where the voice came from. It was a golden hedgehog much to the surprise of everyone. This newcomer had the purple jacket and the sword and boots that the other kid had except, he was golden with red eyes. Shadow knew that he had to be related to Sonic somehow. He had achieved his super form somehow, and it seemed that no one could do that unless they knew Sonic or was related to him.

     Grapes stood on top of a tree branch. He had jumped up right when they had begun to fire at him again. Without addressing them further he levitated up and ripped the tree that he was standing on earlier, up from the ground and flung it at the two soldiers. They immediately flew up into the air, forced to separate.

     Grapes took this chance and did a quick spin dash in the air. Releasing himself, he flew at one of the soldiers and immediately began to circle the mech at various angles. When he had stopped, the entire machine was in pieces with the soldier still relatively unharmed. The pieces along with the soldier fell on the ground and Grapes slowly lowered himself down to the ground and smirked.

     The remaining soldier quickly picked his fallen comrade off the ground and flew away. Grapes who was still smiling, pumped some of his energy into his sword as he watched the pilots run off into the horizon. Before they could disappear entirely he flew straight up into the air and brought his sword over his head.

     "CHAOS SWORD!" He brought the sword downward, and instantly a golden arc of energy was sent spiraling away from his sword and headed straight towards the flying mech. The energy wave sliced right through its midsection, effectively cutting it in half and then it exploded from the excess energy.

     Shadow watched the display in slight awe. Who was this newcomer? How is he able to transform like that without any Chaos Emeralds or Gold Rings? 

     Such power… is he a threat? He easily killed those two without a single thought. I was like that once, and if he's the same way… 

     Grapes landed in front of Shadow and powered down, his golden quills becoming a soft lavender and his blood red eyes returning to it's intense green. "They won't be bothering us anytime soon."

     "Who, or what are you? Are you another one of Gerald Robotniks' experiments? Or Eggmans'?" Shadow demanded. 

     Grapes only looked at Shadow curiously. "Don't trust me?" 

     Shadows' eyes narrowed. "Trust you? You can't even tell me who you are, let alone why and how you're so powerful."

     Grapes nodded. "We all have our secrets. But I suppose this is farewell then, since I can't answer your questions and you won't stop bothering me until I do. You're well enough to take care of yourself so I'll see you around." 

     With that statement made, he rushed out of there, kicking up some dirt that blinded Shadow for a few seconds. When his vision cleared, Grapes was nowhere to be seen. Shadow looked all around him and there was no trace of the mysterious young hedgehog.

     "Damn it! There's no way I'll be able to warn Sonic… I hope you could hold on, at least until I could get to you all…" Shadow muttered.

     It had been a few weeks after facing off against his rival and fated brother, Shadow. The true villain has been revealed, the bio-lizard was destroyed, and he had saved the world again… but this was the only time in Sonics' memory, had anyone fallen in the line of duty. He had always escaped death, and the same with Knuckles, Tails, Amy, Rouge, and even Big the Cat. This was the only time when one of their own, had given their life for the greater good.

     It's funny… any one of us would have done the same in any situation, but it's so different when you actually see one of your own buds, go up to that big chili-dog stand in the sky! Sonic thought to himself. It's so surreal, having to see it upfront! 

     Shadow finally knew what it was to be a normal 'hog, and he gave his life to save me and the world! It just isn't right. Mulling over his thoughts on the roof of a building, he sat cross-legged and hoped these feelings of guilt and depression would just disappear. He stood up and watched the city people go about their daily tasks, already forgetting what had nearly killed them in the last few weeks. They had already forgotten Shadow the Hedgehog and how he was responsible for saving the world and curiously enough everyone remembers for all the wrong he did. And funnier still, none had forgotten him, Sonic the Hedgehog. Everyone labeled him savior of the world and everyone else from Tails to Eggman… 

     "It's just not fair!" Sonic exclaimed. "I'm glad you're not here to see any of this, old buddy!" 

     "A wise echidna told me that talking to yourself is a sign of insanity..." A voice called out to Sonic. He quickly spun around to face the new voice.

     "Who's there? Show yourself before I decide to spin dash you off this building!" Sonic yelled out.

     Grapes stepped out from behind the shadows, waving his hands. "Relax, I'm a friend!" 

     "You're a hedgehog with a sword?! First I get a look alike and now this? Let me guess…" Sonic tapped his foot while he acted like he was thinking really hard. "You're an experiment of Eggmans' right? The newest, most ultimate lifeform? I knew he wouldn't be able to resist trying to succeed where his grandfather failed!" Sonic snarled out. He began to charge up for a spin dash until he saw Grapes transform. In his shock he had stopped charging and stared at the golden hedgehog in front of him. 

     "Still feel like fighting me?" Grapes asked.

     There's no way he coulda gotten the emeralds… right? No big deal, if he did, he'll need rings to keep his super form! Sonic concluded triumphantly. "You won't be like that for long! You'll need rings to keep your invincibility, and after you lose that, your spiny behind is mine to kick around with as I please!"

     Grapes only laughed. "Actually I could hold this form for as long as I want, but believe what you will. Anyway, I just stopped by to say that Shadow is alive and he needs your help so to speak."

     "WHAT?!" Sonic fell back in shock. He had been waiting for someone, anyone, to come and tell him that Shadow survived, but he never really expected it to happen and not in this way. "Who are you, how do you know this?"

     "I can't tell you who I am. As for how I know, I found him badly hurt near the Mystic Ruins and I took care of him the last few weeks. He's in stable condition now, so go and find him." Grapes turned to leave.

     "Wait!"

     Grapes turned around again to look at his father.

     "Whoever you are… if what you say is true, I owe you big time, you got that? But if you're up to something I'll come back and beat you over the head with your own sword." Sonic jumped off the roof of the building and ran off towards the Station Square train station. 

     "Good luck, dad." Grapes whispered.

     "I still can't believe you're alive!"

     "Will you get your hands off me already?!"

     When Sonic had found Shadow napping under a tree he rushed at him and tackled him in a hug. Shadow was surprised and happy when Sonic found him but quickly became impatient when Sonic kept on babbling about how glad that he was actually alive and how the 'blue idiot' wouldn't let him go. 

     "How did you know where to find me, let alone knew that I was still alive?" Shadow asked with curiosity.

     Sonic stood up and scratched himself behind his ear as he thought about his meeting with the mysterious young hedgehog.

     "Well, believe it or not… there was this purple hedgehog. He said you were alive and told me to find you here. He also said he took care of you while you were M.I.A. Is that true?"

     Shadow shrugged. "Probably. I just woke up recently and the first thing I noticed is that I'm all healed, more or less. I guess he did take care of me."

     Sonic kicked a rock into the river. "Damn! Who is this guy? I owe him big, but who is he? A hired flunky for Eggman? Hey, did you know he could go super without any emeralds or rings?" Sonic asked.

     Shadow nodded. "Yes. Some soldiers from G.U.N tried to ambush us but he took care of them easily. He transformed in the very end when the two survivors tried to flee and he killed them without hesitation."

     Sonic frowned in thought. "I dunno… if I were in his place and I knew about you or G.U.N, I 'd probably would have done the same."

     "You don't get it!" Shadow exclaimed. "He killed them so easily, as if they were just mere insects! Even when I had reasons to kill, I only killed when necessary! When he killed those men, it wasn't necessary at all. What I'm saying is, the way he fought and killed those soldiers was conditioned. He's been prepared for war and he'll resort to those kinds of strategies to win! Until we know more about him, he's a threat."

     Sonic placed a hand over Shadows' shoulder to calm him down. "Hey! Don't worry about it bud. He saved your life, and that's all that counts! C'mon, let's go home eh? Wait 'til the others see you, they'll freak!" Sonic became enveloped in laughter and soon even Shadow chuckled as they slowly walked back to Tails' workshop. 

     Although the mood has been improved, Shadow still can't shake the feeling that he's met that young hedgehog before… and that this won't be the last he's even going to see of him.


	7. The Hedgehog Job

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past: (Timeframe Grapes Enters in, after Sonic Adventure 2)

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years after 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

     Over the next week Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Amy, and Rouge celebrated over the return of Shadow. Knuckles gave him a hearty pat on the back and drank to his health at a small dinner party Tails and Amy had thrown in Shadows' honor. Rouge even went to the trouble of cooking most of the dinner, while Amy made what she knew best, sweets.

     Dinner had been finished hours later and the small group started on some small talk which soon switched to current events. The discussion then turned to what had happened to each person over the course of the last few weeks Shadow had been presumed dead. 

     "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you!" Tails exclaimed. "How did you manage to survive your fall? There's no way you could have escaped reentry into the atmosphere with only a few minor scrapes." 

     Everyone stopped talking and faced Shadow. No one could explain how he is alive and no one bothered to ask Shadow since they were grateful he was back in one piece.

     Shadow retold his side of the story from what little he remembered. He told everyone how he had woken up, and found himself healed for the most part. Then he bought up the issue of the mysterious young hedgehog, which both Sonic and himself testified how powerful this stranger really was, and everybody soon began to speculate the story behind this new arrival. 

     "He could transform without the use of the emeralds? Not even a lousy ring?" Knuckles asked, the curiosity beginning to override his natural distrust for strangers.

"Man, if we had that power, no way could Eggman ever pull something funny on us!" The Master Emerald would finally be safe, once I find out his secret! Knuckles thought to himself with glee.

    "Yeah… but I still don't trust this guy. With his power, he's a threat until we're sure of his loyalties." Shadow stated. "Remember… I was the same way, I was more than a match for Sonic—"

     "Hey! I beat you didn't I?" Sonic asked while he chewed on his toothpick. 

     "Lucky shots won't get you anywhere!" Shadow shot back.

     "Faker!"

     "Goody two sneakers."

     "Rusty, muddy old sneakers!" Sonic chuckled while pointing at Shadows' sneakers. Shadow only looked down at his shoes and grunted since they _were_ worse for the wear. 

     "Pink hedgehogs' whipping boy!" Shadow shot back, happy with the satisfaction of seeing Sonics' jaw dangle while Amy was blushing.

     "You wanna take this outside?!" Sonic bristled, good-naturedly of course. Everyone had a good laugh at that little argument.

     "Anyway! He did save your life, so he can't be all bad right?" Rouge asked while facing Shadow. "He knew who you were and he could've easily killed you for the hell of it. Or maybe just turn you over to G.U.N. No one said he had to fight them, but he did."

     Sonic nodded. "Yeah. I've seen worse things than that. I say we let him come to us, I have a feeling this won't be the last time we've seen of him." 

     He too thought the guy was bad news at first, and he still can't shake the feeling that he knew the kid from somewhere, but right now he's willing to give the guy a chance. 

     "You think?" Amy wondered. She then smiled a wicked smile. "Hey, he might be a cutie… Maybe I'll ask for his number! He probably works out and has nice, soft, but spiky quills and--"

     "Cut that out, will ya!?" Sonic immediately shouted while simultaneously jumping out from his seat. He was immediately greeted with confused looks and a giggle from Amy. "Uh… I mean, c'mon! He's a good kid, no need to scare him off with your antics!" Sonic mumbled out as he sat back down. Amy smiled and gave a victory sign. 

     "Well, maybe I could find some information on this guy! I got some contacts within the Government agency I work for, it shouldn't be too hard." Rouge offered. 

     She too was secretly interested in this newcomer but not romantically, rather for the source of his power. This new ally is a strong one and she won't let him escape her clutches. There's no telling what would happen if he fell into the wrong hands…

     "I don't know if we can't trust him just yet." Shadow huffed.

     "No one is saying that, but we won't turn him away. You shouldn't take us for fools Shadow." Knuckles replied. "We'll welcome him with open arms and we'll also see if he's up to something."

     Unbeknownst to the entire group, both Sonic and Amy feel rather awkward at the current turn of events. Sonic could see this new guy has good intentions and he believes he could be trusted. 

     Amy felt it was wrong for everyone to question him, even though she knew the risks might be great if they don't. However, Shadow did save the world and no one dares to question his loyalty. This guy saved Shadows' life, so shouldn't that be in the same league?

     I hope the guys don't expect me to interrogate this guy or nothin'. Sonic hoped he wouldn't. He would like to learn more about him first instead of being told to do it to see if this guy's bad news.

     Grapes had already taken the initiative, while Sonic and company sat around talking over empty plates. 

     Knowing full well that since this world still has more than a handful of survivors, money will be a necessity. He quickly offered his services to a newly opened construction firm right near City Hall. He also knew he'd need a base of operations so he would need an apartment in the city as well.

     It'd be nice to be around people again. he thought as he stood outside a restaurant, leaning on the wall as he watched people pass by him, totally entranced in their nightly routines. In all eighteen years of his life, he had never seen so many people in one place. The hustle and bustle of urban life felt so much better to be in, than the desolate and run down cities and destroyed eco-systems Grapes was so used to.

     As he looked around he noticed a small bakery, and on the window was a 'Help Wanted' sign. 

     Hmm, I might need the extra money… Grapes thought.

     Deciding it to be a good idea, he dashed to the store, careful not to bring in any unwanted gusts of wind. Arriving just outside the door, he could see there was another door that led to the apartments upstairs. Grapes was about to go into the bakery to ask about the job until a small sign on the apartment door caught his eye. It was an ad, advertising for a roommate.

     Grapes whistled at the amazing turn of events. "This is getting better by the minute!"

     When he walked inside the bakery his stomach grumbled at the delicious smells that permeated the bakery and his extremely honed senses. The noises and the laughs around him soon woke him up. Looking sheepish he took a seat at the counter and pretended to browse through the menu.

     "Heya, stranger! New to these parts?" 

     Looking up, he came face to face with a blue hippo in a hat and apron. "Um, yeah you could say that. I'm Grapes."

     "Heya! Just call me Charlie. What will ya have?" the hippo asked good-naturedly. "Might I suggest the cherry pie? Our newest resident chef has everyone raving about it!" Charlie said with a hearty laugh.

     Grapes grinned and nodded. "I could also use a job."

     "Oh ho! So you want the job huh? What's your qualifications?" he asked as he leaned in.

     Grapes swallowed nervously. He could do all kinds of manual labor, but he forgot the little fact that he didn't have many skills of the domestic variety. "Well, I'm a people person! Eheheh…" Grapes laughed nervously.

     Charlie only looked at Grapes with an upturned eyebrow. "Okay then. I could use another waiter. How about that? As you can see my friend, we're not just any ordinary bakery! Our customers can sit here and enjoy our goods! We're pretty much a café with the perks of a bakery and a restaurant!"

     "Restaurant?!" Grapes exclaimed. 

     Charlie nodded proudly. "Quite extraordinary isn't it? And it all started out as a small little bakery. Now we serve hot meals and cater to parties!"

     Grapes shook his head at the ludicrousness of it all. Well, at least it's the kind of ludicrousness that's profitable! 

     "So, are you interested?" Charlie asked.

     "Sure, why not? When do I start?"

     Charlie bent down behind the counter and grabbed a white cloth. He threw it to Grapes and grinned. "Now would be nice! I think table number nine needs more coffee!"

     Grapes' jaw dangled for a bit before he could come up with an adequate response. "Hey! What about my pie?"

     Charlie only shrugged. "Get it on your lunch break!" he responded.

     "When's that?" Grapes asked as he tapped his foot impatiently.

     Charlie only waved his thumb at a nearby wall clock. "It's almost eight thirty p.m.! Now c'mon and get to work!" he called jovially over his shoulder as he went to serve another customer.

     Grapes groaned. He looked around and saw a sign that pointed to the personnel locker room. I should at least hang up my stuff first before I get started. 

     Grapes took the forkful of pie and shoved it into his mouth. It took all his strength not to drool while he chewed. It also took most of his will power to not fall off his seat in sheer ecstasy. 

     "You know, this job had to be the hardest and most aggravating job I've ever had to do… but _this,_ just makes up for everything!" he said as he shoved his fork into the crusty exterior of the aforementioned pastry.

     Charlie only laughed outright as he served up another slice. It had been an hour past closing time, and an hour and thirty minutes since the last customer left. And since Charlie felt bad for cheating Grapes of his pie, he felt he owed it to him to serve some up for him, on the house.

     "Yep! This little wonder pastry here certainly has performed many a miracle! It saved me from bankruptcy." Charlie said. 

     "Really?" Grapes asked, his mouth full of the cherry pie.

     Charlie nodded. "Yep. I was about to close shop and go with my cousin into the carpentry business until my newest chef came out of nowhere! She needed a job and practically begged me to try some of her cooking! I wanted to forget about it and start over but she insisted. I did, and the stuff she makes is fantastic! Ever since then we've been open and we're getting more and more customers everyday."

     Grapes listened intently and nodded. And this is what Mogul wiped out, in order to be ruler of the world… 

     This, strangely enough, gave him the inspiration and courage to carry out his goal. Charlie's tale of just being an everyday person reminded Grapes why he did what he did and why he's fighting Mogul at all, to preserve the natural order of things, to protect the helpless and to fight the good fight.

     Suddenly, he remembered that he needed to live somewhere. If he had to save the world, he needed somewhere to stay. "Hey Charlie, what do you know about someone asking for a roommate for the apartment upstairs?"

     "Oh that one? All I really know is that whoever's there now is looking for a roommate, not much else. Sorry Grapes."

     Grapes shrugged as he speared the last bit of pie from his plate and shoved it into his mouth. "No worries, I just needed to know. I don't have any place to stay right now you know?"

     "If worse comes to worse, you could just sleep here!" Charlie said as he took Grapes' empty plate and cup.

     "Nah, I'll be fine. I've lived outdoors for quite a while now so it'll just be fine. " Grapes replied.

     "What? Why not? You need a place to stay and you're more than welcome to stay here. There's not much room at my own place but—"

     "Don't worry about it Charlie! Anyways, I'm gonna get my stuff, I'll see you tomorrow morning!" Grapes hopped off his table stool and dashed towards the stairs to the locker room downstairs. As he ran down the stairs, he went straight to his locker, which held his sword and jacket. 

     He breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't need Charlie to ask any more questions that he couldn't answer, at least not without making himself seem suspicious.

     "At least a million people in this concrete jungle and not a single one I could trust…" Grapes muttered as he opened his locker to retrieve his belongings.

     "What's that? Who's down there?"

     Grapes turned around, immediately drawing his sword with the tip of the sword pointed towards the entrance to the locker room. "Come out, slowly. That is, if you want to stay in one piece."

     Slowly, Grapes could make out a shadow. The figure slowly moved towards Grapes. He soon lowered his sword once the figure made its way out the shadows and into the light. The figure was just a lone girl. With purple hair, yellow fur, and bright wide blue eyes, she didn't seem a match for Grapes and hardly a threat, but Grapes kept his guard up nonetheless. 

     "And just who, are you?" Grapes asked. The tip of his sword lowered a bit, but if she made the wrong move, he could easily cut her in half if need be.

     "I-I work here! I'm the chef, and who do you think y-you are, waving that sword around like you own the place!" the girl shouted. She stuttered a bit but she was still angry enough to yell at the very person that's making her stutter in the first place.

     Grapes only turned around with his back turned to her, and sheathed his sword. "Sorry about that. Now who are you and what do you want?"

     "Jerk…" she whispered under her breath. "I'm Charlie's head chef, and I'm just here to get my stuff!" she turned away from Grapes and went straight to her locker. Coincidently, her locker was only a few lockers away from Grapes'.

     Grapes slid on his jacket and then his sword. "What's your name?" he asked quietly.

     "Not like you deserve to know! But it's Mina." The girl replied. Grapes was about to turn to her and say something until he realized she was unbuttoning her shirt right in front of him!

     "AAHHH!!" Grapes was more than startled and fell back when he tried to cover his eyes. "You're not supposed to do that in front of other people!" Grapes cried as he struggled to get up without catching any unwanted, albeit pleasant, glimpses. 

     "Cut it out you idiot, I'm wearing a tank top!" she exclaimed. When Grapes opened his eyes, she was wearing a black tank top and brown short shorts underneath the chefs' uniform. She took out a brown jacket and then proceeded to stuff her uniform inside the locker.

     "Oh… Right. Sorry about that then." Grapes muttered feeling deeply embarrassed. 

     Mina didn't bother to answer Grapes and just slipped her brown leather jacket on. She then walked up the stairs with Grapes following intently behind. When Mina reached for the door, Grapes then broke the silence.

     "Hey, listen… I'm sorry about before okay? But are you really going to walk home by yourself at this time of night?" Grapes asked incredulously. 

     Mina only watched Grapes curiously. "What? I've been doing it for a few weeks straight now and nothing's happened yet."

     "Exactly. Not yet." Grapes replied.

     Mina only shrugged her shoulders. Soon, Grapes helped Mina close up the bakery and then they would be off to her home. After he would walk her home, he would have to find someplace to stay until he could find an apartment or at least someplace permanent. They walked a few steps to the left and then Mina stopped.

     "Well, this is it, see ya." Mina said. She then began to fumble through her jacket for her keys.

     Grapes was at first confused. But then he realized Mina lived upstairs from the bakery! Is she the one looking for that roommate? Grapes wondered with silent dread.

     "You live HERE?!" Grapes exclaimed. 

     "Yeah… damn it! Don't tell me I left my keys back inside my locker!?" Mina cried out, as she couldn't find her keys anywhere. Then suddenly an idea struck Grapes. 

     "Can I borrow that for a second?" he asked while pointing to her hairpin. 

     "You're joking right…?" Mina asked although she complied and handed the hairpin to Grapes. He only grinned. He took the hairpin and twisted it around. Grapes then took the pin and carefully placed it inside the keyhole and turned it a few times.

     "Ah! Got it." Grapes said proudly. He pushed the door open and waved her in. "Ladies first."

     "Yeeeaah…" Mina said slowly. "Thanks." She replied over her shoulder. She was about to go until Grapes stopped her.

     "Hey, um… you live upstairs right? Are you the one looking for a roommate? Or is there another apartment upstairs?" he asked nervously.

     "No, I'm the one looking for a roommate. The rent is too expensive for me to handle alone." Mina replied suspiciously.

     Damn it! Ugh, oh well. I guess it could be worse… Grapes sighed inwardly.

     "Are you interested in it?" Mina asked. Please say no, please say no, please say no… 

     "Yeah, I am." Grapes said uneasily. 

     "Great." Damn it… mina thought bitterly although she forced a small smile on her face. "Well, let's talk about it tomorrow. Come by around noon."

     Grapes blinked owlishly. "Um, don't we have to work tomorrow?" he asked hesitantly.

     Mina looked at him strangely. "Tomorrow's Sunday, the bakery's closed…"

     Grapes laughed nervously. "Ooh! Ehehheh… I guess I lost track of time! Anyways, I'm still new around here and I could use the place to stay." Damn, that was a close one… I can't believe I didn't know what day it is! I should get better acquainted with this time period soon… 

     "Right. Anyways, talk to you tomorrow I guess." Mina turned around to leave and was just about to curse her luck for attracting weird roommates until Grapes cleared his throat again and effectively stopping her in her tracks.

     "Um, you forgot this…" Grapes said as he held her hairpin in his hand. "Unless you know how to use this thing, you'll be sleeping in the hallway." Grapes said casually. 

     Mina rolled her eyes and waved him to follow her. Together they ventured up the flight of stairs that led to a narrow hallway with one door at the end. 

     "That's it," she said while pointing towards the lone door. Grapes nodded and immediately set to work. Within seconds, the door was open to her apartment and Mina said her thanks.

     "Listen, you're not still mad at me for earlier are you?" Grapes pleaded. 

     Normally he wouldn't but he would like the apartment. Having to travel to work at less than 15 miles per hour all the way from the mystic ruins would be too much of a hassle, and the trains would only be worse. How could you make something that's naturally fast, move slow anyways? It's just impossible for Grapes to even more a quarter of his usual speeds.

     "Mad? At you? Don't be silly, I mean, all you really did was brandish a sword at me and threaten my life, and now you want to be my roommate? I mean, what ever gave you the idea that I was _ever_ mad at you?" Mina asked sarcastically, which was powerful enough to make even Grapes wince.

     "I'm sorry, I really am. If there's anyway I could make it up to you, just let me know…" Grapes started to say but Mina only glared at Grapes. "I'm not going to be living here anytime soon, am I?" Grapes asked suddenly.

     Mina shrugged. "Whatever works. You want to stay here or not?" Mina asked.

     "Yeah, definitely!" Grapes exclaimed.

     "Can I count on you for help with the rent?" she asked again.

     "I have already have two jobs," Grapes replied. "And I don't spend money on luxuries." He added in for good measure.

     Mina sighed to herself and put her hand out. "I never really hold grudges, and I think I could trust you. Charlie said I could, so I believe him. Welcome home, then."

     Grapes smiled gratefully and shook her hand. That lousy bastard knew! I wonder what the hell went through his head, not telling me about her and her apartment? 

     "Do you have a name?" Mina asked as Grapes stepped inside and closed the door.

     "Just call me Grapes." He replied, slinging his sword and jacket over a near by coat rack. "Heh, just like home." Grapes murmured. 

     "This might just be the start of a beautiful—" Grapes was about to turn around but Mina was already gone, most likely to bed since all he heard was the sound of a door slamming shut and a lock being bolted. "--friendship…"


	8. The Fray

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past: (Timeframe Grapes Enters in, after Sonic Adventure 2)

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years later) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

Approximately one hour after Grapes' departure to the past… 

     "Something is wrong Mogul! Dreadfully wrong! Everything is not as it should be! It's wrong, it's all wrong!" Ivo screamed out into the dark and dank corridors. The slow placid dripping of a leaky water pipe only angered Ivo even further. His voice carried out into the labyrinth-like dungeon and echoed into the shadows. "I know you're there! Step out here so I could see you! I won't be taken for a fool!"

     Just as Ivo predicted Mogul stepped out from the shadows. He had been watching Ivo intently, searching for the cause of his excitement. He was worried, even under past and recent circumstances Ivo had never been this distraught. "What seems to be the problem, Doctor?" Mogul asked casually. "The servants forgot to give you your daily gelatin?"

     Ivo grunted. "Well, yes! There _is_ that! I better get it before noon or else! Remember, **lime**! Nothing else! And also… don't you feel it Mogul? Don't you sense it in the air, you fool?!" Ivo screamed into Moguls' face as he shook the bars of his cell door.

     Mogul only scrunched his face up in confusion. "Don't speak in riddles! Tell me what you know, or else all I'll give you is orange gelatin!" Mogul spoke sternly.

     Ivo's eyebrows lowered and his face was clearly worried. "Fine, fine, no need to be so evil! And as I've said earlier, don't you feel that disturbance? It's in the air, everything is wrong, everything is changing as we speak!"

     As soon as the words left his mouth, Mogul knew what Ivo had meant and begun to extend his senses outward. He knew that those whose awareness has been elevated or changed could only feel this disturbance and the power of the fourteen emeralds empowered Mogul to that point. 

     Within minutes, Mogul felt it. The disturbance was in the time stream. It was extremely subtle. It had most certainly escaped Moguls' own senses, only because there were no drastic changes made. "That blasted hedgehog! It must be him! He must have found a way to travel into the past!" he said with a clenched fist.

     "It's all wrong, it's wrong! The hedgehog has done it again! Curse them! Curse all hedgehogs!" Ivo screamed as he waved his arms in the air.

     "Calm yourself, Ivo. The hedgehog hasn't succeeded yet, or hasn't made a move yet in the past. He can still be stopped. He will die!" Mogul turned his back on the still ranting and raving Ivo and fell back into the shadows, fully intent on stopping Grapes at all costs.

Back in the past… 

     Shadow stood on top of a building and he carefully looked over the city with Sonic alongside him. Over the next few days he came to better understand Sonic and his friends, and the things they do to preserve what they hold sacred. As he watches over the people going about their routines, he thought about how Maria had wanted him to forgive and forget. After all, he had finally found where he belonged.

     "Life is good…" Shadow whispered to himself.

     "No kidding! I coulda told you that!" Sonic chuckled which earned him a glare from Shadow. "Now c'mon, no more sightseeing! Let's just relax in the meantime; maybe find us a megalomaniac to take down! Whaddaya say?" Sonic asked as he poked an elbow into Shadows' ribs.

     Shadow shrugged. "I'm up for some relaxing but I got some things to do first."

     Sonic blinked at his newfound brother in confusion. "First day you're out on your own and you're gonna pull this lone wolf act on me?" he asked.

     Shadow only shrugged again. "I just wanted to check out some things—"

     "You mean some one. You're going after that new hedgehog aren't you?" Sonic asked. "You're in no shape to fight him and you know it."

     He only nodded. "But I intend to find out all I can about him. I won't risk a new threat on us all, not when we almost gave our lives to save this world." Without hesitation, he jumped off the building he was standing on earlier. He landed on a nearby building and began to run along various rooftops.

     I'm not sure if I should say how dedicated he is, or how does he always make such a great exit… Well, whatever the case is, I better follow him! Sonic closely ran after Shadow and made no attempt to conceal himself. Shadow understood and let Sonic follow and soon the duo began searching the city for Grapes.

     However, they didn't know Grapes was relaxing in his new apartment, slowly getting to know his new roommate…

     Two hours later… 

     "The city wasn't _this _big the last time I stopped by!" Shadow exclaimed in irritation as he paced back and forth over the bakery, and the very apartment Grapes was in. "He has to be here somewhere… hey, it's illegal to break into houses, right?" Shadow asked Sonic, thinking of the possibility that the mysterious hedgehog could very well be right underneath his nose.

     Sonic nodded sagely and Shadows' shoulders slumped. "Okay, okay… damn, there's so much stuff you can't do nowadays!" Shadow muttered as he remembered for future reference that breaking and entering was illegal, and therefore bad.

     Suddenly a bright flash exploded from the sidewalk, right in plain view. "What the hell…?" Sonic muttered weakly.

     Soon screams were heard. The light died down to reveal two robots, Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow. People… Men, women, child, and the elderly backed away from the two menacing robots. However, it wasn't on their agenda to attack these civilians, and they soon blasted off into the air in search of their prey.

     "Do we follow?" Shadow asked.

     "Let's juice!" Sonic replied, and together they ran off chasing the two robots.

     "And so I said to Charlie—" Mina then stopped talking when a bright light flashed and blinded her and Grapes. When the light died down, Grapes rubbed his eyes in order to get himself to focus clearly.

     "Mina? You alright?" Grapes asked as he went over to check on her.

     They had been quietly chatting over some lunch in the kitchen when the window was flooded with an intense light. Grapes quickly ran over to Mina who was on the floor, still blinded. "I'm fine Grapes, just go check what's going on outside!"

     He stalked over to the windows and immediately he heard screaming. His eyes widened at what he saw… 

     Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow were standing in the middle of the sidewalk and innocent civilians began back away from them. Grapes felt a hard lump in his throat as he realized that they could easily slaughter all of them if they chose to do so. To his relief, they sped off into the sky, leaving everyone alone.

     At that very moment he realized something. "They're after me…"

     "Huh? Who's after you?" Mina asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Grapes turned around quickly.

     "I have to go, someone's after me… I can't stay here." Grapes quickly dashed out into his room to retrieve his sword and began to put on his boots.

     "And where do you think you're goin'? You're not leaving after we agreed you could stay here are you?!" Mina was irate. How dare he agree to live here and help pay the rent and then suddenly up and leave her in the dust?

     "I won't be gone for good. I still plan to live in this apartment." Grapes stood up and ran to the coat rack be the door and slipped on his jacket. "Those that are following me, I have make sure they don't hurt anyone so I gotta draw them away from here and fast!"

     "Wait, are you in some sort of trouble? Are you some kinda fugitive?" Mina asked fearfully.

     "Something like that…" Grapes replied. He ran down the stairs and out into the street in pursuit of the mechanized hedgehogs.

     "Just once, why can't we get some nice looking girls in bikinis instead of another bad guy in metal tights?" Sonic asked humorously. 

     "Cheating on your better half already? For shame!" Shadow snickered.

     Sonic reddened at the comment. "Shut up and skate, loser! We don't want to lose them now!"

     "Fine, just get your mind out of the gutter." Shadow replied, but then he thought about it for half a second. "No, that's just mean… You could think about Amy in **that way** if you like…"

     "**Shut up**!" 

     How did they know I was here? Damn it, I can't let them ruin the past too! There's too much at stake! Grapes thought to himself as he raced along the ground, trying to follow the black and blue metallic blurs in the distance. 

     "ARGH! Forget this!" Grapes screamed. As he ran he began to pick up more speed, slowly catching up to Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow. Spying a ramp ahead of him, he quickly pushed himself even further. Running along the ramp, he concentrated his power and tucked himself into a ball. When he flew twenty feet off the ramp, he burst into a golden fireball and he was propelled even higher. He quickly unrolled himself and blasted towards Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow…

     "We're being followed… Identifying…  Identity confirmed. Sonic, Shadow, and Grapes the hedgehog…" Mecha Sonic replied to Mecha Shadow. "Grapes is directly behind us."

     "Excellent. Proceed as planned."

     Sonic tracked the two robots in the air. He felt rather uneasy, the blue one looked like what could only be described as a Mecha Sonic. He remembered at one point when Rotor showed him a security tape with him in his mechanized form, destroying Knothole. Is it possible that Eggman sent those two? And that other one… was it really a Mecha Shadow? 

     "They're landing!" Shadow yelled over to Sonic and instantly breaking him out of his trance. Shadow sped up, as did Sonic. They finally reached a small plateau. Immediately Sonic recognized the area. Below them was a waterfall with a small body of water, and beyond the horizon Tails workshop could be seen, as well as the Mystic Ruins train station, which goes straight to Station Square.

     "What?" Shadow whispered over to Sonic. He didn't bother to take his eyes off the two robots. Mecha Sonic stood behind Mecha Shadow, and they both stood in the same exact position as their organic counterparts.

     "It's nothin'. Just trying to figure out why these tin cans lured us all the way out here!" Sonic muttered.

     Mecha Shadow suddenly spoke up. "It's quite simple really. We're here to kill you. So do yourself a favor… and pray to whatever deity you worship for mercy, for you and your friends… because I sure as hell won't give you any."

     A few seconds passed by. Both Sonic and Shadow stared down their counterparts, wondering who will make the first move and who will walk out of this fight in one piece. Suddenly, Sonic broke the silence. His face twisted eerily and he laughed. He laughed because he was amused and because he just wanted to, especially in front of this upstarts' face.

     "Do you have any idea how many rust buckets like you, have said that to me, and actually lived to tell the tale? None! It was a one-way ticket to the scrap heap for them!" Sonic said as he stepped forward, boldly standing nose to nose with the mechanical construct. "Now obviously, you're Eggman's doing... So I'll give you the count of three to surrender peacefully, before I spin dash you right up ole' Egg head's pie-hole!"

     Shadow smirked at Sonic's bravado but he can't help but feel that this Mecha Shadow is more powerful than he looks. "Believe me, making the ultimate life form mad, isn't a very good idea." Shadow spoke up.

     "Thanks bro!" Sonic cheered but raised a questioning eyebrow when Shadow stared right back at him intently.

     "You do realize I still am the ultimate life form, right?" Shadow asked.

     Sonic shook his head and turned to face Mecha Shadow again. "So, are you gonna surrender or not?" he asked again. 

     Mecha Shadow lowered himself to one knee. Shadow was surprised at this sudden turn of events and even Sonic let his poker face fade into surprise. "Guess Eggman doesn't make his 'bots the way he used to. Normally I'd get more of a fight than this!" he said over his shoulder to Shadow.

     Mecha Shadow took advantage of this distraction and stood up slightly and immediately powered up his jet thrusters on his soles and aimed his sharp ears right into Sonics' side.

     "Sonic, watch out!" Shadow yelled.

     "Wha-?!" he yelled back in surprise. Although he couldn't react in time, the immensely sharp ear could easily pierce into his side, and time slowed to a crawl as he realized there was no way he could avoid death now…

     Mecha Shadow was ready. He would tear into Sonics' side and rip into his fleshy body with his claws. But then suddenly he flew back as if he collided with something. He flew back over ten feet and he almost fell into the river. "What?! How?" Mecha Shadow snarled out.

     "You mean whom." A grave voice replied.

     "You!" Mecha Shadow cried out in anger.

     "I'll kill you!" Grapes snarled as he readied his sword for combat.

     "It's you again!" Shadow exclaimed in relief and surprise. 

     "Man, I owe you again don't I?" Sonic asked jokingly. 

     Grapes held his sword ready and grinned as he looked around him. "Why is it that people are never glad to see me?"

     "Come and see me when you're dead." Shadow replied roughly. He raised both his arm cannons attached to his forearms and began to shoot at Grapes.

     Grapes began evading the blasts but Shadow was much too fast and he felt several burns across his body and arms as he barely dodged those lethal blasts. He quickly rolled into a spin dash and begun to charge up.

     "You fool! What the hell is that supposed to do?!" Shadow yelled back to Grapes as he began to charge his own weapons.

     "It's supposed to be a distraction!" Sonic yelled as he jumped into the air and executed his homing attack. He bounced off Mecha Shadows' armor. "What?!"

     Mecha Shadow laughed as Mecha Sonic only looked on. "You idiots! Our armor protects us from your weak attacks! And our weapons are designed to kill weaklings like you!"

     "Shut up and fight, you son of a toaster!" Grapes yelled as he began to hack away at Shadow. Shadow only continued to laugh while dodging the insanely fast strikes with incredible ease. Grapes only continued to slice and stab at empty air. Mecha Shadow stopped Grapes' last stab by punching it away with a right hook and then launched a left uppercut into Grapes' chin and sending him up into the air. 

     Taking the initiative he jumped into the air along with Grapes. His right arm started to transform. His right hand began to pull in and his entire forearm began turned into a cannon. 

     Holding his right arm steady, he began charging up enough energy only to cause mild to major burns. He fired away at Grapes, shooting energy blast after energy blast, sending him skidding along the ground, creating a trail of broken dirt and blood. 

     Sonic and Shadow watched in anger while the mechanical monstrosity slowly but gracefully jumped back down to the earth. Shadow was more focused on any possible opening while Sonic clenched his fists. He spun around to Shadow, his eyes burning with an intense hate. "You try to help the kid out, I'll cover you by keeping Mecha-me busy!"

     Shadow nodded and turned to face Mecha Shadow and whistled to call his intention. Distracted he looked over to Shadow with disdain. "What the hell do you want?"

     Shadow only smirked. "Die!" Shadow yelled as he charged up. Small white orbs of light began to float around him, along with long trails of green energy close around it. Shadow performed his own light speed attack but he only collided with the unmovable object known as Mecha Shadow. 

     "Be patient, you'll get your turn." He said and backhanded his organic self away. He then turned back to Grapes and then he turned back to Shadow again. "Oh, why not. There's plenty of me to go around." Mecha Shadow stated and he then skated over to Shadow at top speed.

     Meanwhile, Sonic stood in front of Mecha Sonic, evaluating him. He looked exactly like he did when Dr. Robotnik turned him into a robot. "Any last requests?" Sonic mentioned as he stepped right in front of Mecha Sonic, cracking his knuckles in the mean time.

     "I don't have to fight you, but I will stop anyone who gets in the way of our mission."

     Sonic raised an eyebrow to that. "Run that by me again?"

     "Mecha Shadow and I were sent here to stop that renegade hedgehog at all costs." He said while pointing over to Grapes, who was still out cold at that point. "I am merely his back up. Mecha Shadow will do most of the actual work. However if you get in his way, I will have no choice but to stop you."

     Sonic blinked. "Right then… so right now, you're not planning to fight me or anyone unless called for…?"

     Mecha Sonic only nodded.

     "These your orders or what?"

     Mecha Sonic shook his head. 

     "Why then? You could kill that kid right now… not that I'm saying you should! Why would you choose not to fight me or that 'renegade', as you put him?" Sonic asked as he pointed over to Grapes. "He's obviously a threat to you and your creator…"

     Mecha Sonic only looked over to Grapes and for a second, Sonic caught a look in Mecha Sonics' eyes that looked like confusion or doubt, as if he didn't know what to do or say. Sonic looked back at Grapes and the questions in his mind only deepened. 

     "So now what?" Sonic asked his metallic counterpart. 

     Mecha Sonic only shrugged. "You sit here and you could wait with me, and see who would win this match… Or you could help your friend over there. I'm sure it's not a hard choice." He replied.

     Sonic looked over to Shadow, facing against his counterpart, and he looked over to Mecha Sonic. "Yeah, it's not." Sonic rushed off to Shadows' aid.

     Shadow was already struggling to get up and panting heavily. Only by tapping into his own inner reserves of energy and rage kept him going. Never in his life had he fought anything this powerful, it was almost as if fighting this robotic version of himself was like fighting the bio lizard out in space, but without his super abilities. Already on one knee, he watches Mecha Shadow slowly advancing towards him.

     "You organics are all the same. Can't last through one decent beating… Well, I said I won't be merciful and I'm sticking by that." Shadow said as he advanced upon Shadow.

     If only I had an emerald or something! My chaos control would come in handy right about now… He may be strong but he can't be that fast. Shadow thought to himself.

     Suddenly without warning, the ground underneath Mecha Shadow began to collapse.

     "Huh?" Shadow was puzzled until a blue hued blur raced out from the hole. Sonic jumped away from the hole and ran to Shadow with a concerned look on his face.

     "You okay, bud?" Sonic asked. 

     Shadow could only nod. "I need an emerald, I think I could beat it with my chaos control!" Shadow suddenly looked behind Sonic to find Mecha Shadow slowly floated up from the makeshift pit Sonic had dug.

     "A useless gesture. Anything else you would like to try?"

     Sonic glared at Mecha Sonic and suddenly an idea hit him. He reached into his glove and pulled out an orange emerald.

     "Here! It's not the real thing, but I was able to pull off the chaos control with it!" Sonic said calmly as he thrust the emerald into Shadows' hand.

     "What? Are you sure?"

     Sonic nodded. "You can't do much to him, chaos control or not. Just leave and take the kid with you!" He turned around and with shout, he launched into a blitzkrieg of homing attacks upon Mecha Shadow fully intent on keeping him busy.

     Shadow stared at the jewel in his hand. How is this possible? Whatever, I have to try… He slowly stood up and begun to draw upon the energies of the jewel in conjunction with the inner power of his own body.

     "CHAOS CONTROL!" 

     Shadow began to feel the effects of the technique and once again he moved at a speed unimaginable to the everyday person. For a test run, he ran to Grapes and to his surprise, he reached Grapes whom was twenty feet away, in less than a second. Immediately he checked Grapes and he was still breathing but out cold. 

     Out from one corner of his eye, he could see Sonic still bouncing to and fro at Mecha Shadow and away from him, while from the other corner of his eye he could see Mecha Sonic, calmly standing his ground and watching the fight carefully. Suddenly Mecha Shadow held his arms out and begun to spin just as Sonic closed in for a homing attack, and knocked Sonic to the floor.

     "Pathetic. Makes me wonder why you're so special…" Mecha Shadow gloated as he stood over Sonic.

     "'Cuz he's got me to back him up!" a new voice stated. Mecha Shadow turned around to find a white glove with two abnormally large spikes heading straight at him. Unable to dodge the hit, he involuntarily flew another ten feet away from Sonic. When Shadow stood back up, he saw Knuckles standing on guard over the downed but now conscious Grapes. Sonic and Shadow quickly regrouped behind Knuckles.

     "Great! Just great! This saves me the trouble of hunting you all down one by one!"

     "No! The masters' orders, was to eliminate Grapes and let everything in history fall into place! We mustn't interfere any further than necessary!" Mecha Sonic yelled.

     "Forget the master! I'll be doing him a favor!" Shadow hissed. 

     Grapes was glad that Knuckles bought him some time. He had begun to hastily charge up for his chaos sword technique, quickly forgetting he shouldn't use too much energy in one hit. With a war cry, he jumped into the air and swung his sword at Mecha Shadow.

     "CHAOS SWORD!"

     The arc of golden energy flew towards Mecha Shadow and struck him right in the chest plate. He fell backwards but Mecha Sonic quickly caught him. Taking a long look around him, he stared at Sonic, Knuckles, Shadow, and especially at Grapes. They stood ready to attack or defend. Without another word, he secured his partner over his shoulder and flew away.

     Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles blinked at that display. "Wow, that was easier than I expected!" Knuckles replied as he scratched the back of his head. Before anyone could make a rebuttal, a loud noise startled them. When they turned around, Grapes was already unconscious on the floor, and he had already powered down from his super form.

     "So… who's gonna explain this one to the girls?" Knuckles asked as he stroked his chin.

     "It seems this will be a bit more difficult than we first assumed." Mecha Sonic replied. He had instinctively done what felt right, and that was to retreat. He quickly found a cave and stole the necessary equipment that would help keep him and Mecha Shadow in top form.

     "The pup has made contact with the past heroes of this era… if he hadn't, we could have easily killed him!" Shadow hissed at his metallic counterpart.

     "We will kill him when the time is right." Sonic replied.

     "You don't understand! Without Master Mogul to feed us energy like he did back in our time line, our energy meter could run low, very quickly! We would fall to them much easier unlike back home. Mogul must have assumed this would be an easy task and that we would return shortly…" Mecha Shadow muttered while in deep thought.

     "Can't we go back and get a more permanent and stable power supply rather than to rely on our internal battery charges?" Mecha Sonic wondered.

     "And risk death? No thanks. Master Mogul won't be happy that we haven't accomplished our mission. There's only one way to deal with this problem…" Mecha Shadow replied with something akin to a smirk on his face. "We'll need some emeralds for starters…"


	9. The Past

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned.

Past: (Timeframe Grapes Enters in, after Sonic Adventure 2)

Sonic – 18

Amy – 16

Tails – 10

Knuckles – 18

Future (nineteen years later) 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 35

Tails – 29

Grapes – 8 

Knuckles – 37

Ten years after 

Sonic – 37, deceased

Amy – 45

Tails – 29, deceased

Grapes – 18

Knuckles – 47, deceased

     "So this is the infamous 'mysterious young hedgehog' I keep hearing so much about… Good thing I listened to my instincts otherwise I wouldn't have saved your asses in time."

     "Hey!" Sonic and Shadow shouted at the same time. But Knuckles kept on speaking, ignoring the duo. 

     "I felt a rather peculiar disturbance in this reality earlier, as if a hole has been ripped through it... I felt it the day you mentioned his arrival, and a stronger one just today. I guess it came from your Mecha-selves." Knuckles said as he inspected the once more unconscious Grapes. He, Sonic, and Shadow had already left using Shadows' technique Chaos Control. "Wonder why I didn't think of it before, that this kid is related to that strange disturbance a few weeks backs..."

     Warping back to the relative safety of Angel Island, they watched over Grapes, wondering what to do with him. Sonic took the time to pace back and forth, trying to piece together everything that has happened over the last two months. Shadow sat in front of Grapes, whom was propped up against a tree. Knuckles chose to watch over the both of them, sitting on a tree branch while munching on some Grapes, the fruit.  

     "Do you think he's responsible for those robots?" Shadow asked Sonic. He didn't bother to turn his head, since the trio of former rivals all knew Shadow would only speak to Sonic. At least on friendly terms and with more vowels instead of his usual grunts and snorts.

     Sonic stopped pacing immediately. "Indirectly is my bet."

     "What do you mean Sonic?" Knuckles asked from his position. 

     Sonic paused for a moment, trying to explain his theory the best that he could. "First of all… he shows up, rescued Shadow and ends up saving him from those punks down at G.U.N. Then, he tells me where to find him, and then he saved our tails again from those robo-hogs although he was way out of his league. I'm betting they followed him here. He definitely knew them from somewhere and vice versa, and they didn't seem too happy to see him either… Alive that is."

     "Wait a sec… You mean those tin cans almost beat this guy? The one with the power to turn super without any additional power ups? But that's impossible!" Knuckles replied in shock. 

     "We all know invincibility is a part of the package, but it's obvious that the only edge he had against those two robots was surprise." Shadow said to himself. Sonic and Knuckles looked over to Shadow, who was still studying Grapes rather intently. 

     "When that robotic version of myself shot at him," while pointing to grapes, "His natural defenses couldn't save him. Speed, power, invincibility, flight… They became useless." 

     Shadow slowly stood up and faced Sonic. Knuckles glided down, standing behind Shadow. He didn't plan on missing out on any important information just because Shadow neglected to let him in on anything because of past differences. 

     " It was a miracle that he had been able to pull off that last hit, damaging that imposter and sending them back wherever they came from. I say, we have to go after them, while they're still weakened from earlier!"

     "You're just as insane as my old mentor described you." A voice replied tiredly. The three of them looked back, to find Grapes awake, his arm draped over his bent left knee. "Before you decide anything else, let me tell you, they aren't impostors and they are by no means weakened. They will come back, stronger and smarter."

     "And who the hell are you to tell us anything?! We don't even know who you are, let alone your true intentions!" Shadow yelled at Grapes. "You brat! I should kill you where you sit!" Sonic quickly restrained Shadow while Knuckles only watched on impassively. 

     Grapes stood up. "What I tell you, you may not want to hear, or is necessarily helpful. Does a General inspire his soldiers by telling them to raid an impenetrable fortress?"

     Shadow growled louder and even Knuckles looked a bit hostile to Grapes. Sonic took the initiative and whistled loudly while holding Shadow with one arm. Everyone soon stopped in their tracks.

     "Alright, we got two killer robots on the loose that just can't be scrapped so easily, super form or no. So tell me, what's all this fighting gonna solve?" Sonic asked impatiently as he tapped his foot while crossing his arms. "Well? I'm waaaaiting!"

     "I thought so! Anyways, to be fair… if you expect us to trust you, you gotta tell us what we need to know! We can't fight blind, and we sure as hell can't make friends, blind!" Sonic said while looking right at Grapes. Knuckles only stared intently into Grapes' eyes while Shadow only grunted while crossing his arms.

     Grapes sighed. He rubbed his temples while trying to prepare what he had to say. There was no way he would endanger his own existence so he carefully picked his words At least they didn't ask any personal questions… not yet anyways… 

     "I come from a future where the world is conquered by a being much worse than Robotnik, or Eggman as you call him. In one swift strike, he managed to crush all of his defenses and took his weapons for his own use. He effectively did what he couldn't do in over a decade. Sonic… Shadow…" he said while pointing to each one while reciting their names. "You were the first few, and the most costly, casualties of war."

     "Who is this guy?" Sonic asked.

     Grapes hung his head. "You call him Mammoth Mogul. In my timeline, he is Master Mogul. And for good reason too. In his possession, he carries fourteen emeralds. Without you, the champions of this era to defend the future as you did in the past… there was no hope. Day by day, he was able to conquer more territory. Only the combined efforts of The Brotherhood, The Dark Legion, and The Acorn Resistance have kept him at bay but even so, they were dying out by the thousands."

     "Wait! You only mentioned Sonic and Shadow as the first few casualties! Tails and I, we're still around right? What happened to us? Why couldn't we stop him?" Knuckles asked. Grapes could hear the desperation in his voice. Hearing that reminded Grapes of how he had parted ways with Knuckles and his last and harsh words with his mentor…

     Soon his mind switched over to Tails. He was the Uncle Grapes never had and having found out his death from Knuckles had been the turning point of his life. He remembered that day clearly. It was the day he had sworn vengeance on Mogul and began his training under Knuckles and even under his own mother.

     "Tails… I haven't heard that name in a decade… It was because of him, that I am what I am now. He was the best scientist the alliance ever had. He took the necessary steps to ensure our survival. When it came time he thought a 'super soldier' project would help win the war, he went as far as to experiment on himself."

     "Experimented?" Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles questioned at once.

     Grapes nodded. "He was able to compress the power of his fake chaos emerald into his genetic structure, make the power a part of him. In my world, we have no power rings. I just recently learned of that too."

     "What happened to him?" Sonic urged Grapes on. He wanted to know what fate had in store for one of his oldest and best friends.

     Grapes never looked up but continued to speak. "When he first started the process, he realized the explosive potential of the power if the subject can't adapt to the power flux or can't control it. He also realized that the war needed a swift and decisive end, so he did the next best thing to actually defeating him." 

     "He created an explosive powerful enough to destroy half of the planet and a type of zone generator. His plan was to infiltrate Moguls' fortress and pick a fight with Mogul himself. Then he would open his zone generator, suck in the entire fortress, and then along with the explosives, he would self-destruct by unleashing his own energy and an incredible rate. Somehow Mogul knew what he had in mind and suffice it to say, in the end Tails sacrificed his life for nothing."

     He looked up at the shocked faces of his father, his future mentor, and Shadow. Grapes had ten years for the pain of Tails' death to transform into a dull aching in his chest. Watching their reactions and reliving the experience made all the pain come rushing back to him.

     "And me?" Knuckles asked in a hushed tone.

     Grapes sighed again before continuing. It had been easier to fight and concentrate when he had left the dead buried and the memories forgotten... Now it was hard to even think about what had happened. 

     "You were the longest living freedom fighter to date. The only person to outlive you, was my mother and I. When I found out about the death of Tails, I had sworn to avenge his death, and you took me under your wing and taught me everything you knew. Because Tails was one of the closest things I had to family, I spent ten years training and fighting off Moguls' army." 

     Grapes looked Knuckles straight in the eye. It had unnerved him to see so much optimism and so much doubt in his mentors' eyes. Repressing the urge to tell him the mental state he put himself in the future, he decide to tell him only what he wanted to know.

     "You… fell in the line of duty. You, we… had been surprised with an ambush by Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow. We believed we were only going after some mindless drones when they were actually just the bait. One of them must have surprised you and killed you. I tried to fight them off by myself after but I almost died. Since I couldn't fight them on my own, the only way for me to save the future was to go back to the past."

     For what seemed like an eternity, the heroic trio had slowly absorbed the information given to them. None of them could believe the tragedy he spoke of but they somehow knew it had to be true. Sonic, Knuckles, and even Shadow knew the risks when they took sides in a battle, but to them it was incomprehensible that Mogul could execute them with such a precise and coordinated matter, as if it were a game of chess.

     "Out of all this hubbub, no one bothered to ask about my death?" Sonic asked, trying to break the silence with a joke. "So, what's my sob story?"

     Grapes' eyes widened at his fathers' flippant attitude but he racked his memories of what had happened to his father. "I remembered what my mother said one night, when she thought I was asleep… she was talking to Tails. Over the years I pretty much pieced together the story from that night on… you pretty much sacrificed your life for your family and friends one night when Mogul planned a mass attack on Knothole."

     "After your encounter with Shadow and Eggman, you went to live back in Knothole. You were the first one to notice an army approaching by land and air when you were having a midnight run around the forest. You came back to Knothole and quickly brought your family to Queen Acorn—"

     "Queen Acorn?!" Sonic and Knuckles asked in unison.

     "Uh… Yes. I believe you call her Princess Sally…" Grapes muttered. If there was one thing he hated besides Mogul, it had to be interrupted during an important conversation. And maybe speed bumps. 

     "Princess Sally kept your family under guard while you rally everyone outside of their homes to an underground route where Princess Sally would guide everyone to safety... "

     "You held off Mogul and his forces all by yourself, to give everyone time to escape. After everyone was safe underground, Sally led a counterstrike team back into Knothole in order to aid you but it was too late. Mogul and his forces had already begun destroying Knothole and taking all the valuable equipment and information that was to be had in the computers, and you were no where to be seen."

     Sonic whistled. "That can't be good..."

     Grapes only blinked in confusion once more. What is wrong with his father? Was he dense? Did he have denial problems that he was never aware of before? Knuckles caught the look in Grapes eyes and chuckled. 

     "Don't worry, he understands the implications of what you're saying. He's probably just calculating the probable fun factor involved, since he'll have to deal with it. He's probably thinking about how he's gonna kick Mogul around."

     "You shouldn't treat this as a joke! Mogul is nothing right now but he is gathering his forces as we speak! With Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow flying around, this won't be a walk in the park!" Grapes shouted.

     Sonic only shrugged. "You're right. In your timeline Mogul had time to plan and work his way up. He caught everyone by surprise. BUT…" Sonic looked around as he spoke. "This time he won't! This time we know what's gonna happen beforehand, and we have time to stop it before anything gets out of control!"

     "He's right. But somehow I don't think we're gonna be enough…" Knuckles replied.

     "Why not? With the kid here and one of us in our super forms we could destroy this Mogul and perhaps even move onto Eggman himself." Shadow shot back. 

     "No, Knuckles is right. Mogul is not one to be underestimated." Grapes intervened. "We should gather up everyone we could find, form an army, and stop him from carrying out his goal."

     "Fine, fine. When does he strike?" Shadow asked impatiently.

     Grapes slowly did the calculations and slowly his eyes widen as he realized a grave, yet funny, miscalculation. 

     "I think I just made a slight, tiny, extremely miniscule, barely noticeable…. mistake…" Grapes said as he tugged on the collar of his jacket as he realized everyone started to look at him funny. "Whoo… is it me or is it hot in here?"

     "**What** is it?" Shadow asked menacingly.

     "Um… Good news is, we'll have plenty of time to get Mogul…"

     "And the bad news?" Knuckles prodded.

     "He won't attack for another ten years…" Grapes said

     "ANOTHER TEN YEARS?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Shadow yelled. He almost lunged at Grapes but he quickly maintained his composure before he could get an inch off the ground. 

     Grapes scratched the back of his ear as laughed sheepishly. "Ehhehheh… I just wanted to have enough time to prepare is all! I guess I jumped the gun a little."

     Suddenly, that little gesture stopped Shadow cold. For some odd reason it bothered him. I've seen that from somewhere… I know it… 

     "Yeah, you jumped an entire decade!" Sonic muttered.

     Knuckles patted Shadows' shoulder. "Relax! Relax! Hey, at least we have adequate time to prepare right? No need to look so down." 

     "Not necessarily." Sonic pointed out. "Who's to say Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow won't enlist help to take us out early? I'm guessing that Shadow was meant to die, right? If not for you, that is." he asked Grapes. Grapes merely nodded, not realizing the shock on Knuckles and Shadows' faces.

     "I thought so. You already changed the course of history and by coming in contact with us you may have already prevented the future from crumbling. Those tin cans can't have that, so they might just pull out all the stops and kill us all early if need be, so their version of the future may stay." Sonic concluded.

     Grapes thought about it for a few moments. "Great. So now what do we do?"

     "Easy!" Sonic piped up. "We stop them, simple as that. No two ways about it! Now… no more talk about this loopy past/present/future stuff! I'm getting' a headache…" he laughed. "All these what-ifs can't be good for your health!"

     An eventful afternoon had passed. Within a few hours Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles had finally found out the horrible truth behind the miraculous survival of Shadow, the appearance of the mysterious young hedgehog, and the arrival of Mecha Sonic and Mecha Shadow. Deciding it to be a good idea to talk in private, Grapes persuaded Mina to go out and enjoy herself (and much to his dismay, at the expense of his own wallet).

     "The sacrifices of a hero…" Grapes muttered as he looked into his empty, leather wallet.

     By the time Mina had left, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Tails, Rouge, and Amy had come by the apartment. In a matter of hours Grapes had retold his tale.

     "Unreal…" Tails murmured.

     "Yeah. I can't believe it." Amy murmured. She held a hand to her mouth as she suddenly realized something. "Oh my god, who's Sonic married to?! Is it me? Or did I die an old spinster?!"

     ::Everyone looks at her strangely::

     "What? Those are honest questions!" Amy shouted indignantly. Soon all eyes turned to Sonic and Grapes. Sonic only huffed as he crossed his arms together.

     "What, so now I'm responsible for what goes through her head, and out her mouth?" Sonic asked sarcastically.

     Grapes cleared his throat while sending a swift kick to Sonics' shin.

     "Ow!" Sonic said as he rubbed his ankle. He glared at Grapes, while everyone else wasn't sure what had happened since Grapes struck too fast for any of them to track. That, and most of them didn't pay attention, except for Shadow whom watched from a distance.

     "Um… To tell you the truth, I really don't know whom Sonic was married to. I just pieced together information from what my mother spoke about and bits and pieces along the way." Grapes stated. 

     "Who were your parents? Do we know them?" Shadow asked out of nowhere. Grapes noticed the steely glaze in his eyes and he knew that Shadow had his suspicions and would actually expose him if need be.

     "Good question!" Rouge piped up. "Are you Sonics' kid?"

     Grapes suddenly froze. It felt as if all the blood had stopped flowing in his body and he was sure he was as white as Rouges' fur. Aw man! This is not good… 

     "I dunno, he looks kinda like Shadow…" Amy said hesitantly.

     "WHAT?!" Everyone in the room half shouted and half yelled.

     ::Grapes' left eye twitches:: Or… Maybe not… 

     "I don't think he looks like any one of them. Maybe another hedgehog joined our little rag tag group?" Knuckles proposed. He then shook his head. "Why couldn't it be another echidna? It just had to be another hedgehog…"

     Sonic suddenly spoke up. "Hey! Not a bad idea Red! Mwahahahaha! Hedgehogs are taking over the world!" he spoke triumphantly as he pumped a fist into the air.

     "He could be Shadows' son. He certainly has the looks, power, and disposition…" Amy stated slyly, all the while watching slow but angry reaction forming on Sonics' face. 

     "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!" Sonic bristled, not knowing he fell into another one of her traps. Amy only waved cheerfully with a smile on her face when Sonic stood in front of her with his teeth grinding endlessly back and forth.

     Meanwhile Shadow was smashing his head on a nearby wall, clearly in disbelief over the stupidity of his comrades. I'm working with a bunch of idiots… Or maybe this is hell… Yes, that's it! I'm in hell! It all makes sense now… 

     Tails, whom had been watching this little play, covered his eyes with his hand. They really don't see the resemblance do they? as he looked back between Grapes and Amy. He then stood on a chair and cleared his throat to get everyone's' attention. "Should I point out the obvious here?" he asked politely as he could without either breaking out in anger or laughter.

     In the distance he could see everyone nodding except for Grapes whom was violently shaking his head. Tails was about to point out that Grapes was Amy's' son, until he realized Grapes was slowly taking his sword out, and his fur and eye color began to change from soft lavender and intense green to an even brighter gold and red.

     "On second thought… what would life be like without surprises?" he said nervously.

     After establishing who was who, and swiftly ending the conversation on Grapes' lineage by Grapes himself, they only had one more issue at hand.

     "So what should we do now? If we even change the slightest thing in our daily routines Mogul would notice. It's safe to say he has watched everyone of us in order to plan the perfect ambush." Rouge pointed out. 

     Sonic only shrugged. "The only thing we can do is to try to get stronger, faster, and smarter than the enemy. Hey, maybe Tails could build some sorta training room that can accelerate time! It'd be able to turn two to three days into a few years when you go inside! We could all train relentlessly and take turns. By that week, we'll be totally invincible!" Sonic said while flashing a victory sign.

     He then noticed the astonished looks on everyone's' face. He then looked to Tails. "Whaddya think? Can it be done or what?"

     Tails only shook his head. "I'm a scientist, not God."

     "Future boy?" he asked as he turned to Grapes.

     Grapes shook off the daze and immediately his eyes narrowed. "I have a name you know. And no it can't be done."

     "Sorry. I don't like calling someone a _fruit_." Sonic said with a snicker

     Grapes only slumped in his chair. "I **really** hate that joke. I mean really, so what if I'm purple and my name is Grapes?" He then looked over to his future father, whom was still chuckling at the joke. "Would you **please **grow up?!"

     Amy chuckled herself but then noticed Grapes slumping. Without considering her actions, her maternal instincts took over. She took out her hammer, and faster than anyone could see she slammed it over Grapes head. "Don't slump! It's not good for your back!"

     Grapes who was already used to the hits back in his timeline, only mumbled out an automatic apology. 

     "Sorry mom, I didn't mean too." Suddenly he froze as he realized what slipped through his mouth. He looked over to Amy and then to everyone else, and everyone to a certain degree, was shocked.

     He quickly jumped out from his seat. "Uh! I mean, geez, don't be such a mom! Not that I'm saying you're actually my mom, you're just… mothering me, ya know? It was an accident, I swear! Really! Stop looking at me like that will ya?!" he yelled while addressing the entire group with that last statement.

     Tails looked triumphant since everyone knew the truth now. Shadows' jaw was hanging, as was Knuckles and Rouges' jaw. Sonic had already lost consciousness while Amy was just speechless. 

     "Oh whatever. I'm going to bed, it's been a long day…" Grapes mumbled as he went straight to his room, leaving everyone sitting where they were, watching him slowly close the door behind him.


	10. The Fall

Disclaimer: Grapes is my own creation, nothing else, so back off.

Author's note: It's a bit A/U since I'm combining a few elements from the comic series and maybe a bit from the games as well. Some things may be off because I've lost track of most of the comics and Knuckles… IS RED! NOT GREEN! At least, here he is. You have been warned. From now on I'll be using italics for thoughts and ::___:: for sound effects if I don't describe them. . 

             Normally for Mina, she would never be out this late. She would just enjoy her Sunday off by just relaxing in front of a good book or maybe take up painting or some other tedious hobby. Maybe even sleeping in early, to get up early the next morning would have sufficed. But thanks to Grapes' influence and his generous donation, he insisted she go out and have a grand time out on the town. 

It seemed like a great idea at first. Mina had already thought about all the things she could do with the money Grapes had given her. By the time she reached the ground floor she realized she really didn't want to do anything, at least not anything extroverted. And it was wrong. The money was the combined paychecks of both his jobs! Making up her mind, she decided to test her luck by going down to Casinopolis and maybe catch a rare, but talented, night of amateur singing.

When she actually reached the casino, there were no singing acts. The only people that would be there were the employees, the gamblers, and the drunkards. Immediately going up the stairs to the newly furnished third floor, which was where the bar/restaurant/karaoke was located, she quickly and quietly slipped into a table for two.

She sighed to herself as she thought about the money that was slowly burning a hole in her pocket. She didn't like to gamble… but maybe she would hit it big if she tried. After all, if she won a lot more than what Grapes had given her, she could pay his share of the rent easily and use her whatever's left to buy what she wants.

Suddenly a glass of fruit juice with a parasol was placed on her table. Noticing the waiter that gave her the drink was walking back to the bar, she waved a friendly hello over to the bartender, Chad, whom happened to be Charlie's cousin. A red hippo casually waved back while serving out drinks to his nightly patrons.

_It's nice to actually have someone give you  "the usual". It feels like I actually_ _belong here…_ Mina thought to herself as she slowly stirred the pieces of fruit in her drink. Taking a slow sip, her eyes wandered around the room. Mostly the single men and women were crowding around the bar. The tables were mostly littered with groups of friends or couples. Many of the couples were already holding hands and staring into each other's eyes. 

Watching this display brought up the one and only reason why she retreated to this city. To escape from _him_… Sonic the Hedgehog…

And by no means was he evil or anything, or was she a fugitive that the blue wonder has a grudge against. Far from it, she escaped because she couldn't have Sonic for herself. 

Cliché at best, she had fled for love, or more accurately termed, she had fled because of love. Coming to terms that Sonic was always and ever will be a workaholic, love is far from his list of first things to do. That, and she knows he already has eyes for another, although he would still gladly fight a megalomaniac bent on world domination (single-handedly) than to actually confess his true feelings to this other girl.

And this other girl was none other than Amy Rose…

Mina's grip on her little umbrella began to tighten and soon snapped under the pressure. She's not blind. She noticed the way he acts when she talks about other guys. She sees the constant flirting between the two of them when no one save her, was looking. Can she blame her though? This _is_ Sonic, the renowned hero of the world. He was the kind of guy that would come home from work (saving the world, etc, etc…), pat his son on the head, and kiss his wife hello every night. He's cool, he's suave, he's brave, has a heart of gold, and a passionate nature any girl would fall for…

_They've known each other for a long time. What chance do I have?_ Mina thought resentfully to herself. _Yeah, maybe I will blame her. After I get a few more of these…_ she thought as she stared down at her drink.

Six hours later… 

After a long night of drinking mixed fruit drinks and gelatin shots with low to medium alcoholic content, she slowly stumbled up the stairs to her apartment and she finally collapsed just right outside her door. Giggling insanely, she drew her knees to her chest and sat there for a while. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she shrieked. Using her natural mongoose speed she pulled out her keys and unlocked the door and slammed it shut as fast as she could. 

Putting her back to the door, she started to breath a little easier. "Whoa! Those pink elephants are scary things!" 

After a few minutes she began to slowly drag herself to her room. After the whole pink elephant incident, her senses seem less dull and she was more coherent of her actions.

"Wait a sec… this isn't my room…"

Well, more or less. Accidentally stumbling upon Grapes' room, she almost turned on the lights until she realized he was sound asleep. His bed was right in the middle of the room, with enough room to move about. To her left, was the window, and to her right was a closet. Spying a chair in the distance, she pulled it up to his bedside and watched Grapes as he slept. 

"Where have I seen you before?" she wondered as she studied his features. The curve of his brow, the mushroom style hair cut, the green eyes, the amazing speed, and the irrepressible urge to go save helpless innocents while enjoying the extremity of it all… Why did it all seem so familiar? 

"If I forget about the haircut, you really do look like someone I know…" she said as she took off her left gauntlet and gently pulled a few of his bangs from his face.

"You think I'm pretty, right?" she asked him. A part of her knew he was asleep but she didn't care. She needed something.

Grapes only grumbled in his sleep and turned to his side, towards Mina. She grinned in satisfaction. "Yeah. At least someone does. But hey, looks don't mean anything compared to friendship…" she said. Secretly she didn't want to think that at all, but she knows it's true in the case with Amy and Sonic. But she also realizes, maybe being friends with Sonic is the best she could have at this point, and maybe all she'll ever need.

Noticing the right side of his bed still empty, she decided to just sleep there for the night. After all, it had been a long day. Taking off her boots and her other gauntlet, she slipped into the bed without making the slightest sound. She looked behind her, and Grapes was still soundly asleep. With the affects of the alcohol still clouding her judgment, she went straight to sleep without another worry in the world.

Grapes never usually slept well at night. Perhaps he had grown up in a world where an attack could happen at any moment, or maybe he was just naturally cautious, but whatever the reason, he felt much more relaxed. As if all was right with the world. He couldn't place his finger on it, but all he really wants to do is just revel in it. He stretched out and yawned. Rolling over, his nose immediately came in contact with something soft…

He quickly pulled back and rubbed his nose, suppressing his urge to sneeze. He focused his eyes and he found Mina, with her back turned to him, fast asleep on a spare pillow. She slowly rolled towards Grapes, giving him a better look at her.

Grapes' eyes widened a fraction and he immediately fell over his side of the bed. Still in panic mode, he quickly backtracked towards the window, his breathing becoming heavy. _What the hell?! Am I in the wrong room or something?_ he thought to himself. He took a quick look around and his sword, jacket, and boots were right where he had left them from the other night. 

Suddenly a loud snore interrupted his train of thought and his eyes darted over to Mina's sleeping form. Getting a hold of his senses, he picked himself up and dusted himself off. _I need to get a hold of myself._ Grapes thought to himself angrily. _If I survived so many years against Mogul, nothing, much less some girl, should disturb me! At least not this much…_

Looking over to the clock over the door he decided he might as well wake Mina up and help open shop. Slipping on his usual attire, he moved over to Mina and was about to wake her up when a loud knocking echoed into the room. Grapes rushed to the door and opened it, and he found his father standing there with a look of worry over his face.

"Sonic! What's wrong?" Grapes asked.

Sonic walked in and looked around him. "Good, you're alright!"

"What? What's going on already?" Grapes asked again but with less patience than before.

"It's Knuckles! He was attacked, I'm sure of it. Tails found him on the front steps of his workshop, badly hurt. Someone worked him over all right… Anyways, thought you should know. We took him to the General Memorial Hospital. You're gonna be there?"

Grapes swallowed the information with ease. Attacks on his friends and family weren't rare. He didn't like it, but he shouldn't be surprised and he wasn't. "I'll be there. Go, they're probably waiting for you."

Sonic only shook his head. "Actually, they're waiting for Knux. They need to do surgery on him. You'll find out when you get there." Without another word he rushed down the stairs and back to the hospital leaving Grapes at a loss for words.

_It's worse than I thought…_ he thought to himself. His eyes were shut tight and his fists were clenched. A slight moaning in the distance broke him out of his trance. He dashed back into his room. The first thing that occurred to him was that Mina might be in trouble. When he reached the doorway, Mina was only tossing and turning in his sleep. Shaking his head, he decided he didn't have the time to waste. He rushed back to the front door, grabbed his sword, and ran down the stairs to find out where the hospital was and get there as soon as he can.

Mina continued to toss and turn while she slept. "Sonic…"

Grapes reached the hospital at record time. Running alongside cars he quickly found his destination. Running to the information desk, which just happened to be the first thing he saw when he had dashed in, and he immediately asked about Knuckles.

"Oh, that new guy that just came in? Yeah, your friend is on the fourth floor, room 442…" 

Nodding his thanks he looked around for an elevator but decided to take the stairs. By the time he reached the fourth floor, he found a directory. Checking for room 442, he realized that room 442, is in the Intensive Care Unit. Scared, angry, and confused, he quickly ran to the room. To his surprise he found an empty bed, and his heart stopped for a second. Sonic was sullenly looking out the window while Amy was sitting on a chair that was seated next to the bedside. Tails was watching a television program that was playing. The look on his face was blank and eerie compared to his usual cheery demeanor. Shadow was also by the window, but he stood with his back to Sonic, his brow furrowed in thought. 

Grapes wasn't able to speak for a few moments and he assumed the worst. Amy finally spotted him. "Oh Grapes! Thank god you're all right!" 

She ran to hug him and then pulled back to examine him as if it were her son that had been in a rough fight and she wanted to check for any bruise marks. Grapes, who was already used to this sort of treatment, stood still for a few seconds. "What happened? Where's Knuckles?" he asked.

Amy looked up at her son. "It's not good… They had to do intensive surgery."

"What?" Grapes asked in horror.

"I found him this morning, hanging onto life by a thread." Tails interrupted. "I found him, and took him here." Tail stood up and faced Grapes, and at that moment Grapes realized the look his eyes. It was the same look, the same intensity, and the same tone of anger he had when he first found out about Tails. Before Grapes knew it, Tails had fled the room. He didn't have the heart to stop Tails. He continued to gaze at the floor.

Sonic cleared his throat and mumbled out about making sure Tails doesn't get in trouble. He followed suit and was soon behind Tails. Shadow grunted and spoke. 

"The doctors are doing surgery on most of his body. His legs and pelvis have been badly injured. His legs have been broken, almost beyond recognition but the doctors are willing to try to operate on him. His rib cage… caved in for the most part, but luckily no vital organs were pierced. His right arm is just as bad… They also think he may have a serious concussion and they're worried about his right eye."

Amy was already softly crying at the mere mention of all the injuries Shadow had mentioned. Shadow, too, also felt the pain and felt it hard not to break down in anger or despair. Grapes swallowed the lump in his throat and discovered that tears were already slowly streaming down his face. "The monsters…" 

"I'm sorry kid…" Shadow replied. "I'm sorry for all of this but right now this isn't the time. Hell, I shouldn't even be apologizing!" Shadow slowly started to regain his composure and his anger. "I'll make those bastards pay, I'll make them apologize for even existing, and I know Tails and Sonic are with me. What about you?"

Grapes nodded. Shadow nodded back. "Amy, Grapes… you two stay here and watch out for any news about Knuckles. I'll try to get Sonic and Tails back here before anything else happens." Shadow quickly turned to leave, leaving mother and son alone. Grapes could only comfort his crying mother while peering out the window, and watching the birds soar above the hospital, slowly crying to himself. The first few rays of noon shone across the emptied bed while the lone guardian underwent surgery elsewhere within the building. 

Many hours later… 

Hours of major surgery had done its work and had saved Knuckle's life, but barely. The doctors did the best they could and they made that fact clear... There wasn't much that modern medicine could do, they had said. The damage was so excruciatingly thorough that it was doubtful he would ever recover fully. Only a miracle would do at this point.

Shadow had long left. After coming back to the hospital with Sonic, they both admitted Tails had eluded them. Shadow had never said goodbye, where he was going, or even when he will be back. When the day started to pass away into night, Amy also had left for home, leaving only Sonic and Grapes to stay by Knuckles. Rouge was the last one to visit Knuckles. It was ten o'clock when she snuck in. Grapes went downstairs to the cafeteria for something to snack on, leaving Sonic to watch over Knuckles but he soon succumbed to a fitful slumber.

She had left an hour ago to hand in her reports of Knuckles' situation to her superiors. Deciding to avoid the others she scaled the building and through the window. Stealthily she walked over to Knuckles' bedside. From the corner of her eye she could se Sonic tossing and turning over in his chair, opposite of her. She soon relaxed when he stopped moving. 

Rouge regarded Knuckles carefully, as if she could glare at him evilly enough, maybe he'd snap out of it. Maybe even get out of bed with all his wounds healed and gone like nothing had ever happened. After a few minutes she sighed as her glare had melted away into a miserable gaze. She hadn't expected anything to happen, but when she first stopped by, she had at least hoped for some answers. How could Knuckles be taken down so easily? It seemed impossible, but after hearing about these strange new menaces, anything's possible. 

Looking over to Sonic she wondered if she should wake him up, get some answers on what happened, and what's going to happen to Knuckles. Above all else, her main concern is about Knuckles. She shook that thought away, seeing Sonic in his tired state, and faced the object of her concern once more. Closing her eyes, she placed a feathery kiss on his cheek and smoothed out his dreadlocks. She quietly tiptoed to the door and tried to sneak away. She opened the door slowly and tried to close it lightly. When she tried to turn around to walk away, she accidentally bumped into Grapes, spilling his cup of coffee and candy bar to the ground.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I—Grapes?"

Grapes blinked. "Hey Rouge! When did you get here?" he asked. He bent down to get his candy bar when he realized most of his drink was on the floor. "Just great…"

Rouge shook her head. "Sorry, I guess I'm a bit of a ditz today. I'll buy you something more nutritious." Grapes nodded and together they began to walk down the hallway to the nearest flight of stairs. The silence and questions she had on her mind had begun to grate on Rouge's nerves. In a hushed voiced she broke the silence. "Grapes, what happened?"

Grapes only looked at Rouge for a second but then turned away. He opened the door and began to walk downstairs, followed by Rouge. "He was ambushed and left for dead on the front door of Tail's workshop. Anything besides that we have no clue." Once again the silence reigned dominant as the unlikely pair marched to the cafeteria in grief and guilt.

He found it dark when he tried to open his eyes. He remembered a pale blue sky, and then a lot of pain. Anything in between was kind of blurry. He tried to slowly sit up but he immediately cried out in pain. 

Sonic woke up immediately. He stood up and flipped on the light switch. "Knux?" he whispered in slight fear, afraid that it was all just a dream. He heard a slow groan. He walked over to Knuckles' bedside, and sure enough he was awake. A bandage covered his right eye and his left one was opened slightly. "How are you?" Sonic asked.

"Angel… Island…" Knuckles spoke in a hoarse voice. Sonic couldn't help but smile at his friend's dedication to the people of the island and the island itself.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's safe. You've only been out for about a day."

"No… it's gone…" Knuckles replied. He began to cough violently. Sonic tried to steady Knuckles but he couldn't help but ask him what he had meant. "What do you mean? What's gone?"

"Angel… Island…" With that last statement, he fell back into unconsciousness. Sonic's mouth hardened. He didn't know what to say. Maybe he was having a nightmare and dreamed that Angel Island was gone? 

_There's only one way to find out. I better find Tails!_ he quickly ran out the door, leaving Knuckles lying in bed.

"Are you sure about this?" Sonic demanded. He had reached Tail's workshop in record time but when he got there, there was only bad news.

"Sonic, when I left the hospital, I took the bi-plane and took a ride to Angel Island." Tails began as he sat in front of a computer, typing away on the keyboard. He turned around to face Sonic. "I… I had a hunch… When I was closing in on the coordinates of the Island, it wasn't there, like it just disappeared. I don't know what happened but it's gone now."

Sonic shook his head in disbelief. "Stupid of me to say that it's impossible… but seriously, how the hell does a floating island disappear into thin air?! I guess Knuckles was serious, Angel Island is gone…"

"Say that again?" Tails asked.

"Knux woke up and told me what happened before he passed out from the pain. I guess it really is gone… but to where?"

Thoughts were moving at an incredible pace for Tails, possibilities and the probabilities were once jumbled in his head were all melting away to leave behind the truth behind the matter... Suddenly it all made sense! "Of course! That's what happened!" When Sonic looked confused he began to explain.

"We all know he'd defend Angel Island to the death. The disappearance of the island, him getting roughed up, the fact he knew the island is gone! Those 'bots must have been after the Chaos Emeralds! He probably tried to fight them off and lost…" Tails began to type away at his keyboard again. Suddenly Tails stopped. 

"Looks like I was right after all." Tails muttered as he typed away furiously at a keyboard. In the middle of giant computer screen, a digital composed map of the ocean popped into view. Sonic observed quietly at the view of digital blueprint. From where he stood it looked like a giant blue cylinder.

"This is where Angel Island is supposed to be situated. And here, is where the scanners on the Tornado reach its limits…" Tails pointed out an entire area of the ocean outlined in red. "This is bad… now I know why I didn't pick up any signals or anything of the sort…" Tails looked over to Sonic and pointed out another area, but this time, it was further below the area shaded in red. Tails pointed to a black mass far beneath it. Sonic noted that the mass looked familiar, and he suddenly knew what Tails was going to say. His gut twisted as the words left Tails' mouth.

"There's Angel Island."


End file.
